Books

Book review: How Boris Johnson made history for all the wrong reasons

A damning indictment of how the former British prime minister failed his office, his people and his own potential, Johnson at 10 is a cautionary tale, told with great authority and skill, if not a lot of flair

Former British prime minister Boris Johnson: the class clown who somehow became head boy. Picture: Getty

Boris Johnson is obsessed with history. When the then British prime minister held a Brexit summit with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in October 2019, many observers wondered why Thornton Manor just outside Liverpool was his chosen location. The answer, Anthony Seldon’s magisterial study of Johnson’s premiership reveals, was that the Battle of Brunanburh is supposed to have taken place nearby.

“In 937 Anglo-Saxon King Athelstan scored a great victory over the King of Dublin, preventing a ...