Boris Johnson is back. The ex-prime minister is preparing to grace the nation with his musings as the launch date of his new memoir Unleashed looms. The former Tory leader’s latest work will be unveiled at the Cheltenham Literature Festival on 10 October, with his publishers promising the ex-PM will ‘explore the big decisions of his time in power’ and ‘shatter the mould of the modern prime ministerial memoir’. And the October release date ensures Johnson’s tome will hit bookshops almost a month before the conclusion of the Conservative party’s leadership race, in timing that might leave some contenders more than a little anxious about how his version of events will sway the membership…
BoJo’s memoirs have not come cheap. At the start of 2023, it emerged the ex-PM received an advance of over half a million pounds for his reflections – over 66 times that received by his short-lived successor, Liz Truss. Johnson – who is paid a hefty ‘six figure’ sum for his Daily Mail column and who was expected to start a presenting gig with GB News this year – has written about his experience of frontline politics, covering his time as mayor of London and UK prime minister. It is rather hoped Boris’s book will be a no holds barred rendition of events given it will be the ex-PM’s first time writing extensively about his explosive exit from the top job – following a flurry of no confidence letters, Partygate revelations and the Chris Pincher scandal. In his usual eccentric style, Boris himself has warned readers to ‘stand by for my thoughts on Britain’s future to explode over the publishing world like a much shaken bottle of champagne’. That’s quite the image…
Johnson may remain a controversial public figure, but his launch location at Cheltenham Racecourse’s Centaur venue illustrates an ongoing fascination with the man who led the country through Covid. The former politician has form when it comes to producing popular reads too, with his existing 10 tomes selling a combined total of 615,000 copies – making him the bestselling former prime minister of the last 25 years. His former culture secretary Nadine Dorries chronicled parts of the Johnson era in her fiery No.10 tell-all, The Plot, released last November. No doubt Johnson’s account will raise many more eyebrows…
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