Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson MP (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and journalist. He was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the Leader of the Conservative Party from 23 July 2019 to 5 September 2022. Johnson was the Member of Parliament for Uxbridge and South Ruislip from 2015 to 2023. He represented the constituency of Henley from 2001 to 2008.
In the 2008 Mayor of London election he was elected as London's second Mayor. He stopped working as mayor to run as an MP for the House of Commons in 2015. In July 2016, Johnson became Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. He resigned this position in July 2018. This was the same day that David Davis resigned as Brexit Secretary. Jeremy Hunt became the Secretary of State for Foreign affairs and Commonwealth Affairs after Johnson.
Johnson served on the Conservative front bench under Michael Howard for a short time. He was the Shadow Minister for the Arts from April 2004 until November 2004. He became a backbencher again after a sex scandal. Johnson returned to the front bench when David Cameron became leader of the Conservative Party in 2005. Johnson became Shadow Minister for Higher Education. He resigned as editor of The Spectator to spend more time on his new role. On 26 August 2014, Johnson said he would stand as Conservative candidate for MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip in the 2015 General Election. He won the election. He did not run for the 2016 London mayoral election. Labour candidate Sadiq Khan became the new London mayor.
Johnson was in support of Brexit during the 2016 membership referendum. The vote decided that the United Kingdom would leave the European Union. Theresa May became the new Prime Minister. She chose Johnson as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in July 2016. Johnson left May's cabinet in July 2018 after her Brexit agreements failed.
Johnson became the party leader in the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election. On 20 June, Johnson and Jeremy Hunt became the last two candidates in the election. He became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 24 July 2019. The Conservatives won the 2019 United Kingdom general election on 13 December 2019. Johnson continued as Prime Minister. In early April 2020, Johnson was very sick due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2022, Johnson survived a motion-of-no confidence to remove him as Prime Minister. However a month later on 7 July, after many cabinet members resigned over his handling of the Chris Pincher scandal, Johnson announced his resignation as Prime Minister and was replaced by Liz Truss in September 2022. However a month later, following his Truss's resignation, Johnson was seen as a possible candidate to replace her. He chose not to run again despite expectations.
Early life and education
Boris Johnson was born at Weill Cornell Medical Center in Upper East Side in New York City, New York. He is the eldest of the four children of Stanley Johnson. Stanley is a former Conservative MEP (Member of the European Parliament). He was also an employee of the European Commission and the World Bank. Boris Johnson's mother is the painter Charlotte Fawcett (later Wahl). She is the daughter of Sir James Fawcett, a prominent barrister and the president of the European Commission of Human Rights.
Ancestry
On his father's side Johnson is the great-grandson of Ali Kemal. Kemal was a liberal Turkish journalist and interior minister in the government of Damat Ferid Pasha, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire. He was murdered during the Turkish War of Independence. During World War I, Boris's grandfather and great aunt were recognised as British subjects. They took their grandmother's maiden name of Johnson. Johnson has described himself as a "one-man melting pot" because of his cosmopolitan ancestry. His ancestors were Muslims, Jews and Christians if one counts his great-grandparents. His father's maternal (his mother's) grandmother, Marie Louise de Pfeffel, was a descendent of Prince Paul of Württemberg. This was due to the Prince's relationship with a German actress. Johnson is a descendent of King George II of Great Britain through Prince Paul. Johnson is also a descendent of all the previous British royal houses through George's great-great-great grandfather, King James I of England.