Boris: The Rise of Boris Johnson

Despite having once been sacked from the shadow front bench, Boris Johnson is still widely seen as one of the stars of the Conservative Party. His distinctive appearance ('Like a haystack on a bicycle'), befuddled manner and ready wit have assured a high media profile and a large fanbase with the general public. In this, the first biography of Boris, Andrew Gimson investigates Boris' twin-faced dilemma - politics or entertainment - and asks how deep his political ambition runs. Born in New York in 1964, Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford. He has transcended his class, education and his various occupations (Conservative MP for Henley-on-Thames, Conservative spokesman for Higher Education, columnist on the Daily Telegraph, motoring correspondent for GQ, novelist, TV presenter) to become a paradoxical character - the old Etonian who fascinates teenagers as well as grandparents, the classical scholar who is also a TV quiz-show contestant. Despite being a comic actor of genius, he is not just an act and Andrew Gimson's biography covers all facets of this complex individual. There is his exotic Turkish ancestry, his place among five siblings, his competitive relationship with his father Stanley, the distinguished university career, his five years as a journalist in Brussels, his first failed venture into politics ('I fought Clwyd South - and Clwyd South fought back'), overseeing the Spectator during the David Blunkett affair and the Liverpool editorial fiasco which led to Boris' sacking from the shadow cabinet, his exile and return under David Cameron, his two marriages, four children and love affairs. Interviewing Boris' contemporaries, his family and his detractors, Andrew Gimson has created a fascinating and amusing portrait of this unique man of our times.

'It is all rubbish from start to finish - but well-written rubbish" Boris Johnson
‘Reading Andrew Gimson’s affectionate portrait of the Tories’ biggest celebrity feels a bit like gambolling through a summer meadow in your underpants – daft, a little risqué and great fun...Boris is a national treasure, and Gimson has done him proud’
Sunday Times
'Full of jokes and witty observations, this is a well-paced biography which leaves you wanting to know more about the subject. You couldn't ask for a more genial guide to Planet Boris than Andrew Gimson. His understated flair is the perfect foil for Boris's headlong, over-the-top exuberance'
Independent on Sunday
'A scintillating eulogy'
Telegraph Review
'Gales of laughter rip through every chapter, but they are punctuated by evidence of the pain Boris the bull has inflicted in the china shop. Gimson is not afraid to pass judgements, but is gentle in his strictures'
Guardian
'this beautifully written biography... In Gimson, he has found a generous biographer who has interviewed Johnson's friends and colleagues in journalism and Parliament. The author admits to being a friend but pulls no punches'
Guardian
'Fascinating... Andrew Gimson struggles manfully to produce a warts-and-all portrait - every scandalous episode is dealt with in meticulous detail - yet his affection for his subject shines through on every page'
Toby Young, the Spectator
‘Full of jokes and witty observations, this is a well-paced biography which leaves you wanting to know more about the subject. You couldn’t ask for a more genial guide to Planet Boris than Andrew Gimson. His understated flair is the perfect foil for Boris’s headlong, over-the-top exuberance’
Independent on Sunday 1/10
‘[A] scintillating eulogy’
Telegraph 7/10

‘Gales of laughter rip through every chapter, but they are punctuated by evidence of the pain Boris the bull has inflicted in the china shop. Gimson is not afraid to pass judgements, but is gentle in his strictures’
Guardian 7/10
‘Beautifully written’
Observer 8/10
Andrew Rawnsley’s choice
‘The trick for politicians is to alchemise their abilities into charisma, as Andrew Gimson shows in his rollicking THE RISE OF BORIS JOHNSON’
Observer 26/11

Andrew Holgate’s choice
Politics and Current Affairs Books of the Year
Sunday Times 4/12

Lloyd Evans’ choice
‘I love Gimson on Johnson...but perhaps only because I was quoted in it twice’
Spectator 18/11
'A chatty, revelatory portrait of the blond crusader that pulls no punches while still being a fond tribute to a colleague'
The Scotsman
'Boris's willingness to own up to his frequent mistakes makes him easier to forgive than most politicians'
Observer 24/6
'There are enough Jilly Cooper-style japes to make Boris the jolliest biog in ages'
Evening Standard 16/7

‘An affectionate biography of the novelist, journalist, MP for Henly and London mayoral hopeful by this paper's parliamentary sketch writer’
Summer Reading Daily Telegraph 21/7

‘A friendly portrait of the flaxen-haired, gaffe-making, bumbling Tory MP. True, Johnson's weaknesses are fully explored: his ability to cause mayhem, his sexual affairs and his "wonderful streak of creative irresponsibility". What does come over, though, is the enormous affection in which Johnson is held. One curiosity of this fascinating portrait is the number of people who are quoted as seeing him as a future Tory prime minister, although everything else in the book contradicts this possibility’
Sunday Times 22/7
'Ken Livingstone has been pictured reading Andrew Gimson's jaunty biography of his prospective mayoral rival Boris Johnson, and gave it the perfect book jacket quote: 'The scariest thing I've read since 'The Silence of the Lambs'. But don't think Ken spent his own cash on the book. “My publishers sent six copies over,” Gimson tells me. “We thought it was important for Ken to see Boris was a formidable opponent”. Ken obviously fell for it'
Independent on Sunday diary 29/7

'The plot thickens. As I recently noted, Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee is in muddy waters labelling Boris Johnson “a toff” given her own impressive lineage, which includes the Howard family of Castle Howard. Now Johnson's biographer Andrew Gimson reveals that her rancour against bumbling Boris may have more to do with the fact that she once went out with one of the Tory Mayoral candidate's uncles'
Londoner's Diary, Evening Standard 27/7

'The authorised biography of Boris Johnson that Ken Livingstone was spotted with... if you want the lowdown on the Tory most likely to take on Ken, there's no better guide than this book'
TheLondonPaper 24/7
'Gimson is a friend of Johnson but isn't afraid to highlight the less attractive aspects of his character. He doesn't gloss over the sec, selfishness and sanctimony while revealing the man's cunning, ability and ambition'
Sunday Express 231/9