Boris Johnson

Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson born 19 June 1964 is a British politician and writer serving as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party since 2019 He was Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from 2016 to 2018 and Mayor of London from 2008 to 2016 Johnson has been Member of Parliament MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip since 2015 and was previously MP for Henley from 2001 to 2008 He has been described as adhering to the ideology of onenation conservatism Johnson was educated at Eton College and studied Classics at Balliol College Oxford He was elected President of the Oxford Union in 1986 In 1989 he became the Brussels correspondent and later political columnist for The Daily Telegraph where his articles exerted a strong Eurosceptic influence on the British rightwing of politics He was editor of The Spectator magazine from 1999 to 2005 After being elected to Parliament in 2001 Johnson was a shadow minister under Conservative leaders Michael Howard and David Cameron In 2008 he was elected Mayor of London and resigned from the House of Commons he was reelected as mayor in 2012 In the 2015 election Johnson was elected MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip The following year he did not seek reelection as mayor He became a prominent figure in the successful Vote Leave campaign for Brexit in the 2016 EU membership referendum Theresa May appointed him foreign secretary after the referendum he resigned the position two years later in protest at Mays approach to Brexit and the Chequers Agreement After May resigned in 2019 Johnson was elected Conservative leader and appointed prime minister He reopened Brexit negotiations and in early September controversially prorogued Parliament the Supreme Court ruled the action unlawful later that month After agreeing to a revised Brexit withdrawal agreement with the EU which replaced the Irish backstop with a new Northern Ireland Protocol but failing to win parliamentary support for the agreement Johnson called a snap election for December 2019 in which he led the Conservative Party to victory with 436 of the vote and the partys largest seat share since 1987 On 31 January 2020 the United Kingdom withdrew from the EU entering into a transition period and trade negotiations leading to the EUUK Trade and Cooperation Agreement The COVID19 pandemic had a major impact on the UK his government responded with various emergency powers and introduced measures across society to mitigate its impact Johnson initially reacted slowly to the outbreak and resisted introducing lockdown measures although the vaccination programme was the worlds first Johnson is considered a controversial figure in British politics Supporters have praised him as humorous and entertaining with an appeal stretching beyond traditional Conservative voters Conversely his critics have accused him of elitism cronyism and bigotry Commentators have described his political style as opportunistic populist or pragmatic