Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson was editor of The Spectator 1999-2005.

Why aren’t we giving Ukraine what it needs?

16 September 2023 9:00 am

Why won’t Britain give Ukraine what it needs?

Why I quit parliament

10 June 2023 6:22 am

I have received a letter from the Privileges Committee making it clear – much to my amazement – that they…

The joys of a career change

17 December 2022 9:00 am

Why I am not standing for the leadership

24 October 2022 7:42 am

In the last few days I have been overwhelmed by the number of people who suggested that I should once…

Our country's saddest day

9 September 2022 5:20 am

This is our country’s saddest day. In the hearts of every one of us there is an ache at the…

Bush is leading us to tragedy (2002)

7 September 2022 5:00 pm

It’s 20 years since the clamour for the invasion of Iraq was at its loudest. Boris Johnson, The Spectator’s then…

Advice to my successor

20 July 2022 11:16 pm

Boris Johnson completed his final PMQs this afternoon, offering some ‘final words of advice’ to his successor. Spectator readers may recall his…

Full text: Boris Johnson’s resignation speech

7 July 2022 10:00 pm

Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you. It is clearly now the will of the parliamentary Conservative party that there should be…

'Let us refuse to dance to the tune of the media': Boris Johnson's full speech to Tory MPs

7 June 2022 2:47 am

Graham (Brady), many thanks for convening this meeting. And I have to tell you I am glad that this vote…

Read: The Prime Minister's address to the nation as Russia invades Ukraine

24 February 2022 11:28 pm

Shortly after 4 o’clock this morning I spoke to President Zelensky of Ukraine to offer the continued support of the…

Boris on liberty: the PM has always been against ID cards – until now

10 April 2021 9:00 am

The PM has always been against ID cards… until now

Full text: Boris Johnson's Brexit deal speech

25 December 2020 3:09 am

It is four and a half years since the British people voted to take back control of their money, their…

Why England is going back into lockdown

1 November 2020 6:54 am

I’m afraid no responsible Prime Minister can ignore the message of those figures. When I told you two weeks ago…

Boris Johnson: Perhaps my campaign was ‘clunking’. But sometimes, clunking is what you need

21 December 2019 9:00 am

You may wonder why I am up at 4.45 a.m. writing this diary when I have a country to run, Queen’s…

Full transcript: Boris Johnson’s speech on the steps of Downing Street

14 December 2019 2:53 am

This morning I went to Buckingham Palace and I am forming a new government. On Monday MPs will arrive at…

Boris Johnson: I don’t want an election, you don’t want an election

3 September 2019 3:27 am

Five weeks ago I spoke to you from these steps and said that this government was not going to hang…

Are we really going to abandon Brexit because of a Mars bar shortage?

15 December 2018 9:00 am

The nice French doctor looked beadily at the screen. There were the results of my tests, in irrefutable detail. They…

Boris Johnson: Why we should chuck Chequers

28 July 2018 9:00 am

Surely there is a bit of humbug in this outrage about the two remaining jihadi Beatles, Kotey and Elsheikh, and…

We need 10,000 tigers in the wild

7 April 2018 9:00 am

I am here in India looking for tigers, and am struck by the way my fellow human beings respond to…

Girl power! Educating girls can fix the world’s problems

13 January 2018 9:00 am

The world is blessed with a brilliant and industrious UN secretary-general, and it was certainly worth tuning in last week…

To a Turkish president

21 May 2016 9:00 am

There was a young fellow from Ankara Who was a terrific wankera Till he sowed his wild oats With the…

Boris Johnson’s diary: Amid the China hype, remember Japan

24 October 2015 9:00 am

Frankly I don’t know why the British media made such a big fat fuss last week when I accidentally flattened…

The secrets of London's Athenian golden age

13 September 2014 9:00 am

The forces that made the world’s first democracy great are alive and well in modern London

'I laughed until I cried, then retched': Boris Johnson on the wit of Simon Hoggart

11 January 2014 9:00 am

I really can’t remember exactly how I came to appoint Simon Hoggart the wine correspondent of this magazine, but I…

Nick Garland’s take on the Thatcher legacy in the 13 April issue

A tribute to Margaret Thatcher

7 December 2013 9:00 am

The Iron Lady’s legacy is that, thank goodness, the free-market economy is the only show in town