Just Boris Quotes

“Some in Downing Street say it is now accepted that – unless Cameron falls victim to events – Boris will not get a chance to challenge for the leadership until after the Prime Minister wants to move on. At least initially, Downing Street sources refused to give a ‘moment’s thought’ to Boris not serving a second term as Mayor: ‘We just believe he will win.’ In the Tory high command, thoughts were already turning to a potential Boris v. George Osborne contest after 2016, when it is believed likely that Cameron will step down to ‘pursue other interests’. But as the architect of the Cameron government’s divisive austerity plan, Osborne may find himself ruled out and in any case, chancellors rarely go on to make a success of the top slot. Moreover,”
― Sonia Purnell, Just Boris: A Tale of Blond Ambition: A Biography of Boris Johnson

“I have never seen anyone who is tougher behind the eyes than him in a billion years of interviewing. He is clearly a right piece of work. He’s completely under control – except in one area, where women are concerned. He made no attempt to engage at all, and avoided answering all the questions. His bluster and wit serves to obscure his real politics, which are nasty. He is a charmingly evasive and ruthless customer.”
― Sonia Purnell, Just Boris: A Tale of Blond Ambition: A Biography of Boris Johnson

“After dismissing the recorder as ‘girly’ at the age of 11, in an effort to ‘express my musical personality,’ as he puts it, he tackled the trombone.38 His considerable wind power went in one end, but out of the other came only parps and what he refers to as a ‘soft, windy afflatus.”
― Sonia Purnell, Just Boris: A Tale of Blond Ambition: A Biography of Boris Johnson

“And although the effects were not yet visible, he also seemed to have gone back on his word to stop seemingly randomly scattered skyscrapers from trashing the city’s skyline. ‘Erectile disorder seems the occupational disease of London mayors,’ railed the commentator Simon Jenkins about Boris’s new-found enthusiasm for towers.12 As soon as Boris had taken occupancy of ‘the testicle’ (his own nickname for the elliptical City Hall), he ‘craved a phallus.’ He”
― Sonia Purnell, Just Boris: A Tale of Blond Ambition: A Biography of Boris Johnson

“Claiming to feel ‘eirenic’ (peace-seeking) and ‘ataraxic’ (serenely indiffererent) about Evans’ and Young’s act of perfidiousness, he declared: ‘I’m certainly issuing no instructions to staff about it. It will not be deemed an act of disloyalty to go and see”
― Sonia Purnell, Just Boris: A Tale of Blond Ambition: A Biography of Boris Johnson

“Fan clubs and websites in praise of Boris were springing up all over the place – run by both Home Counties mothers and northern university students. (The Durham University Fan Club was just one that had as its mission ‘the admiration, promotion and discussion of Boris Johnson.’)”
― Sonia Purnell, Just Boris: A Tale of Blond Ambition: A Biography of Boris Johnson

“I remember a dinner party when he spent the whole time writing an article. At a requiem concert in the cathedral, he spent his whole time writing notes. At a wedding disco, Boris was going round interviewing people for his column while Marina was breast-feeding. He is completely driven. He has an ability to focus on one thing, no matter what human beings may be in the way.’ Boris”
― Sonia Purnell, Just Boris: A Tale of Blond Ambition: A Biography of Boris Johnson

“He’s quite empathetic when he wants to be, clever at judging other people’s moods.”
― Sonia Purnell, Just Boris: A Tale of Blond Ambition: A Biography of Boris Johnson

“David Ross, the co-founder of Carphone Warehouse, was hired as Olympic adviser.”
― Sonia Purnell, Just Boris: A Tale of Blond Ambition: A Biography of Boris Johnson

“As for Anna Fazackerley, the stories were to have more painful consequences. No one should doubt that there are casualties in a jolly Johnson jape – and they are usually women (or children).”
― Sonia Purnell, Just Boris: A Tale of Blond Ambition: A Biography of Boris Johnson

“For a maverick, he rebelled against his party a puny five times in his seven years as an MP. When he did so, it was usually taking a more liberal line than the leadership (and, indeed, his own previous positions), such as backing the repeal of the infamous Section 28 ban on the promotion of homosexuality and voting in favour of giving legal status to change of gender for transsexuals. When”
― Sonia Purnell, Just Boris: A Tale of Blond Ambition: A Biography of Boris Johnson