What brought him down within six silly months? “The three Ps”. Owen Paterson, who Boris unwisely tried to protect in wake of a lobbying scandal; Partygate, which he brazened through and almost survived; and Chris Pincher, the whip whose wandering hands goosed a government. Boris Johnson’s resignation as prime minister is not just a portentous political event. His time in office – and the nature of his departure – throw up vital questions about democratic values and institutions. The Prime Minister had just been told that the second most important figure in his government had quit. Rishi Sunak was out – and without giving his boss any warning. No meeting was requested by the Chancellor to explain his reasons, as had been the case with Sajid Javid, the departing Health Secretary, earlier that day, 5 July 2022. There was no conversation over the phone; not even a text. It fell to the Number 10 political secretary to tell his boss a resignation letter was on the way. Johnson was raging. ‘Who the f--k does he think he is?’

An entertaining description of the politically chaotic times the UK found itself in during 2022. The reader gains an insight into Boris’s mindset and approach - whether you agree with him and his followers or not, it’s an essential read to try and understand just how much we have moved away from the traditional political practices of the past. I wasn't sure there's enough for a book here and the last chapter is dedicated to Liz Truss' fight to succeed Johnson. I get the impression that the author sympathises with Johnson but not to the point of compromising their ability as a writer. Jeremy Corbyn with former Blyth Valley MP Ronnie Campbell at a 2017 election campaign event. Campbell lost his seat in 2019, having been Blyth’s MP for 32 years. Photograph: Scott Heppell/AFP/Getty Images Westminster is a place of outsized egos, something Johnson could be forgiving about, according to allies. After all, he had always been an obsessive competitor himself. When playing one Cabinet minister’s nine-year-old son at tennis, he insisted on marking the score after every point. Aides who had played on the court at his Oxfordshire cottage joked that he used old balls scrubbed of fuzz to obtain an advantage. And he had once been so determined to gain the upper hand as London mayor that he snatched David Cameron’s notes off the table during talks, prompting a schoolboy-like tussle. Given that only Johnson and Smith are likely to have been on the call, and that the remarks are in wider circulation because Boris described it to others, it is difficult to prove categorically what was said. Was the tone one of warning or threat? What is certainly true is that Johnson has since concluded it was the latter – that is, part of a plot against him – and told others as much.His limited interest in Parliament, while not uncommon for prime ministers, could be an issue too. He had a massive majority in the Commons, but not in the House of Lords. ‘Can’t you just bosh this on?’ an exasperated Johnson would ask Lords Leader Baroness Evans as legislation stalled there. ‘That’s not how it works,’ she would reply.

Easy to read account that is very straightforward in it's telling and allows the narrative to speak for itself without too much commentary and it succeeds I think but given my abhorrence for the man, I am predisposed to find this account particularly damming. I would perhaps have preferred some more depth but that wasn't really what the book was aimed at providing. I do question the editing to an extent since Guto Harri's name was mis-spelled on at least 2 occasions (writing "Hari") and whenever I see this in professionally put together books I wonder if there are other editing errors. Sometimes Cabinet ministers would text Johnson in a frantic lobbying effort during group video calls. Others used WhatsApp to get round the usual channels. Securing face time was seen as a third route to influence, leading to tussles about who would be last with Boris before a decision was taken. In Johnsonland, a yes was not guaranteed to stay a yes; a no need not be the end of the debate. Despite the absence of proof, the idea of great forces thwarting him – money, a rival and a former adviser turned nemesis all wrapped up together – somehow appealed. In February 2022, Johnson got a call from Smith. Six Johnson inner-circle figures have described it to me, most saying it happened on the day Smith’s wife, Munira Mirza, quit as head of Boris’s policy unit. Smith warned Johnson he was at risk of being forced from office, the sources said. The phrase attributed to Smith is variously quoted as ‘they’re going to get you’ or ‘we’re going to get you’.A firm friend of Johnson, who in public would be considered one of his most prominent allies, reached a bleaker conclusion: ‘He’s a columnist, right? Columnists are used to writing their column, forgetting it and moving on to the next one. And you can’t as a national leader operate in that way. You have to follow through… He never made a transition from being someone who could entertain and attract attention and emotionally connect to the hard work of being Prime Minister. He was ill-disciplined.’ the public nature of Sunak’s willingness to hold Boris at arm’s length was different from that of other future rivals In a now-notorious 2012 pamphlet “ Britannia Unchained: Global Lessons for Growth and Prosperity:,” Liz Truss and four other MPs elected in 2010 suggested that “the British are among the worst idlers in the world. We work among the lowest hours, we retire early and our productivity is poor.”