276°
Posted 20 hours ago

Boris Johnson: The Gambler

£9.9£99Clearance
ZTS2023's avatar
Shared by
ZTS2023
Joined in 2023
82
63

About this deal

This same generosity marks Bower’s description, in two lengthy chapters, of Johnson’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. His advisors were shit, the scientists were constantly wrong, and his cabinet was full of idiots (okay that might actually be true). Equally the northern powerhouse and levelling up remain warm words but little has yet emerged as to how these will be delivered. but one who respected the statesmanship, integrity and convictions of Thatcher, Major, Heseltine, and Cameron. Even once he’d committed to Brexit, he argued that it made no sense for Britain to leave the single market – a position he would casually jettison once it suited him.

The first half was a good read and showed over and over again the problem with a PM like Boris -- how he charms and how he fails and makes a fool of himself. Previous biographies have either dismissed him as a lazy, deceitful opportunist or been transfixed by his charm, wit and drive.

Similarly, Bower concedes that Johnson once wrote of “grinning picaninnies” with “watermelon smiles” and, for good measure, digs out a line that Johnson’s critics missed: “Some dream of their teeth falling out as they are about to be executed with the scimitar by a beautiful black woman. Given Bower's reputation for incendiary biographies of one or two press barons, this is a surprisingly generous appraisal of Johnson .

Naturally, Stanley began sleeping with one of the two young women, in full knowledge of his children. I definitely feel as though I know Boris better, but would have preferred for the book to be slightly more streamlined!But the one thing you take away from this is the old saw - in America, power is derived from wealth, in the UK power is derived from privilege. In a statement that neatly encapsulates the ethos of the post-truth era that Johnson’s spell in Brussels anticipated, Telegraph executive Jeremy Deedes insists his correspondent might have been “exaggerating but it was all too good to check. But my alarm bells started ringing before I started reading the book, when I spotted in the acknowledgements Bower’s statement that the book had been conceived in the summer of 2019.

Asda Great Deal

Free UK shipping. 15 day free returns.
Community Updates
*So you can easily identify outgoing links on our site, we've marked them with an "*" symbol. Links on our site are monetised, but this never affects which deals get posted. Find more info in our FAQs and About Us page.
New Comment