Boris Johnson: A Maverick

By: Asad Mirza

Former London Mayor Boris Johnson led the campaign for Britain to leave the EU, and after a dramatic prime minister race, he’ll be serving in one of the country’s top positions.

Johnson is a clownish character, but he’s got enviable popularity levels and is known by his first name across the UK. He’s even affectionately referred to as “BoJo” over social media.

While at Oxford University, Boris was president of the Oxford Union, a position held by former Conservative leader William Hague and ex-Prime Minister Edward Heath. Johnson went to Eton College and university with Prime Minister David Cameron, but Boris was much more obviously political at the time.

Johnson, who also worked as a journalist was sacked after a brief career at London-based newspaper The Times, and then worked for The Daily Telegraph as the paper’s Brussels correspondent, gaining a name for himself in the center-right press. Politics and journalism run in the family.

Boris’ brother, Jo Johnson, is also a Conservative politician, following a career as an investment banker and as a bureau chief at the Financial Times. Boris was appointed editor of The Spectator magazine in 1999 before being selected for the Conservative seat of Henley-on-Thames and being elected in 2001.

Despite the repeated gaffes, people easily warm up to Boris. Though the incidents often come off as clownish, they make him seem more authentic than normal politicians. In 2004, Johnson lied about having an extramarital affair, and Conservative leader Michael Howard sacked him as shadow minister for the arts.

By 2005, when David Cameron was elected leader of the Conservative Party, Johnson was back as higher-education minister. In 2008, Boris stood down as an MP and defeated incumbent Ken Livingstone of the Labour Party in London’s third mayoral election.

In 2012, as part of a promotional event for the Olympics, Boris was stuck on a zip wire. Boris has kept a constant media profile. With no major gaffes in quite some time, the idea of him leading the Tory party became increasingly more realistic. His popularity figures are perpetually high, regularly beating all other British politicians.

As debate over the Brexit heated up in early 2016, Boris said that his country had a “great, great future” outside of the EU, but said that he’d rather see the UK remain in a reformed EU. On February 21, Boris Johnson officially came out in favour of Britain leaving the EU, giving the “Leave” campaign a significant boost.

In March, Boris told a Treasury committee that there were “no good economic arguments” for Britain staying in the EU. Just weeks before the referendum, Cameron said that Boris could be the next prime minister. Some speculated that his leadership of the “Leave” campaign earned him Conservative support. In his new role, Boris will spend lots of time in the EU countries he condemned during his referendum campaign.

Boris Johnson began his term as prime minister by assembling his new team, in which British citizens with ties to the subcontinent are prominently placed.
Sajid Javid is the new chancellor, Priti Patel home secretary and Dominic Raab foreign secretary, other Indians like Alok Sharma and Rishi Sunak, have also found important positions in the Cabinet, and this shows Johnson’s aim to connect more with India, as a sizeable number of his supporters are considered to be of Indian and Pakistani-origin.

According to a BBC Urdu report, Boris Johnson has a Muslim ancestral background and his great-grandfather Ali Kamel was Turkish. According to the BBC, citing official birth records, Boris Johnson’s paternal grandfather is Osman Wilfred Kemal. Johnson’s paternal great-grandfather, Ali Kemal, was a Turkish journalist and politician in the early 1900s. Mr Kemal’s son Wilfred Johnson (his middle name) married Irene Williams, and their son was Stanley Johnson, Boris’s father. In 2008, Mr Johnson revealed his background during BBC program.

The Indian media has focused a lot on Johnson’s so-called “India connect” — the fact that her former wife was part-Indian or that his brother was in India as a journalist or even the fact that he has appointed three British Indians — Priti Patel, Alok Sharma and Rishi Sunak — as senior members of his cabinet.

But these are superficialities best ignored. These factors matter little when it comes to the rough and tumble of diplomacy. India’s ties with the UK are important and they have been becoming more pragmatic in the last few years.

Soon after Narendra Modi’s election victory in May, Johnson had tweeted that he looked forward to “an even closer partnership” between the two nations. As foreign secretary, he laid emphasis on the conclusion of a free trade pact with India though he had acknowledged that it would have to wait for the UK to formally come out of the EU. If Johnson can find some bandwidth to deal with issues beyond Brexit, he would recognise that a strong Indo-UK bilateral partnership is the need of our times. From education, health, culture, infrastructure, science and high technology to areas such as policing and intelligence, Britain is still a global leader. Britain’s sharing of its expertise can be key to building capacities in India.

While much has changed, the UK has not yet succeeded in articulating a broader strategic vision for its ties with India and this is related to its failure to view Asia beyond economics and trade. If Johnson can do this, something that he seems cognizant of, he would find a very willing partner in the Modi government.

Asad Mirza is a Sr journalist based in New Delhi. In his career spanning more than 20 years, he was also associated with BBC Urdu Service and Khaleej Times of Dubai. He writes on Muslims, educational and international affairs issues. He may be reached at asad.mirza.nd@gmail.com

Disclaimer: The views expressed are author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of the publication.