Rishi Sunak’s allies declared it the “end of the road” for Boris Johnson when a damning report concluded he had lied to Parliament on an “unprecedented” scale over Partygate.
The prime minister is hoping that, after a vote to endorse the report’s findings on Monday, he will be able to get on with the job and no longer worry about the distractions of his predecessor.
So alarm bells will have been ringing in Downing Street when a Boris-shaped silhouette was printed on The Daily Mail’s front page as it teased the former PM as its new “erudite” columnist.
He has since been confirmed in the role, using his first column to detail how a weight-loss drug did not work well for him.
Those in Mr Sunak’s camp will have also seen speculation that he is considering a bid to return as London mayor – which would pit him against one of the shortlisted Conservative candidates for next year’s contest.
Mr Johnson’s former aide Guto Harri said it would be a “great idea” for his old boss to run, but his ex communications director at City Hall, Will Walden, said the former PM “only runs for things if he knows he can win” – pouring cold water on the rumours.
Longer term, Mr Johnson’s backers, including former PM Liz Truss, have urged the public to “never write off” Mr Johnson. His successor as PM – who lasted just 49 days in the job – was confident people “will hear more” from him.
So, what next for Boris Johnson?
Speculation is rife that Mr Johnson could spend focus his time on giving lucrative speeches and penning columns – and even finish a biography of Shakespeare for which he was paid £500,000 almost a decade ago.
After this, the former PM could mount his comeback. If the Conservatives lose next year’s general election, Mr Johnson could seek to return to the party as its saviour and attempt to lead it out of opposition.
Expanding his family
Political plotting aside, Mr Johnson has a lot on his plate. The 58-year-old and his third wife, Carrie, are expecting their third child together. Their first son, Wilfred, was born in April 2020, with thier second child, daughter Romy, following in December 2021.
Ms Johnson, 35, confirmed last month that she was pregnant with the couple’s third child, saying: “New team member arriving in just a few weeks. I’ve felt pretty exhausted for much of the last 8 months but we can’t wait to meet this little one.”
The family, along with dog, Dilyn, a Jack Russel Cross, moved into the Grade II-listed Brightwell Manor in Oxfordshire, which was listed for sale at £4m.
It is believed that in total Mr Johnson has eight children, but he has not officially confirmed the exact number.
Mr Johnson and his second wife, Marina Wheeler, who separated in 2018, have four children together: Lara Lettice, 27, Milo Arthur, 25, Cassia Peaches, 23, and Theodore Apollo, 21. Mr Johnson also has a fifth child, Stephanie Macintyre, who was fathered as a result of an affair with art consultant Helen Macintyre.
Making – and writing – headlines
Despite his extensive family responsibilities, there is no doubt Mr Johnson will find a way to stay in the headlines. Here we look back at how, whatever the job, the former PM has always found his way into the spotlight:
Mr Johnson was fired from his first job, at The Times, for making up a quote about Edward II’s catamite lover and attributing it to his godfather, the Oxford historian Colin Lucas.
He went on to find his voice during a five-year stint as a Brussels-based foreign correspondent for The Daily Telegraph – returning to the UK as one of Margaret Thatcher’s favourite commentators.
Whilst there, Mr Johnson wrote that the EU wanted to standardise coffins, the smell of manure and the size of condoms – and had rejected an Italian request to make undersized rubbers. He warned Britons that their prawn cocktail-flavoured chips could be banned, that their sausages were under threat and that their fishermen would be required to wear hairnets.
He returned to London as the paper’s chief political columnist, where his often controversial pieces included referring to citizens of the Commonwealth as “flag-waving piccaninnies” and Congolese people as having “watermelon smiles”.
Alongside his work for The Daily Telegraph, Mr Johnson wrote a column for The Spectator and reviewed cars in GQ – where his former editor claimed he racked up £4,000 in parking fines.
His political career
Mr Johnson’s political career began with a tilt at the safe Labour seat Clwyd South, in north Wales, where he lost as the Conservative candidate in 1997.
He enjoyed a stint as the MP for Henley from 2001 to 2008, before becoming a political star as the mayor of London.
Beating the incumbent Ken Livingstone, his tenure in a city with widespread Labour support was notable and he occupied that office during the 2012 Olympics, considered a triumph for the host city.
Mr Johnson famously stole the show on the day of Britain’s first gold medal of the games, becoming stuck on a zipwire holding two Union flags and wearing a hard hat.
His path to the premiership was sealed by his backing of the Brexit campaign in 2016, which rocked then-prime minister David Cameron’s leadership, left Theresa May in deadlock and created the conditions for Mr Johnson to take the top job.
His subsequent downfall as prime minister – just three years winning a landslide 80-seat majority for the Conservatives – in 2019, was short and devastating.
But it paves the way for Mr Johnson to try his hand at something else.
His new ventures have already gotten off to a rocky start. The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) chairman Lord Eric Pickles warned on Friday that it will be writing to Mr Johnson over his new job as a Daily Mail columnist over his failure to give sufficient notice of his new role.
Former ministers who have left the government in the past two years must apply to Acoba before taking up a new appointment or role. The committee said it was told just 30 minutes before his appointment was announced.
An Acoba spokeswoman said: “We haven’t had an application and we will be writing to Mr Johnson.”