Boris Johnson: The Gambler (Ebury Publishing) is published 15 October. You will hear from us shortly. I have read The Gambler, Bowerâs new biography of Boris Johnson just once, but as I turned the pages, I had an uneasy sense of having read it at least twice before. Journalist Tom Bower confirms he is writing Boris Johnson biography This article is more than 1 year old Author is said to specialise in books about âmen with something to ⦠Bower writes that Johnson would send her ‘recklessly amorous’ texts, such as his last text message, sent on 29 December, 2018, two years after their last meeting, that said: ‘I miss you and I need you’. Tom Bower [is] the master of the unauthorised biography' Tatler 'Another brilliant book by the master biographer' Piers Morgan * Hero or villain? Boris Johnson’s father hit his mother and broke her nose, a new biography has claimed.The alleged incident, which took place in the 1970s, left her needing hospital treatment, according to a Get the New Statesmanâs Morning Call email. Boris Johnson's dad abused his mum and 'broke her nose', bombshell book alleges. Still, they said, I should consider myself lucky: when Bowerâs Blair book came out, they had to read it twice. Johnson has already been the subject of two excellent biographies: the sympathetic and intimate Boris by Andrew Gimson and the critical and lucid Just Boris by Sonia Purnell. The problem, though, is that these insights, as well as being thin, are hard to trust, even when they have the ring of truth. The book was serialised for 5 days in The Times and was the basis of a BBC TV documentary. Tom Bower [is] the master of the unauthorised biography' Tatler 'Another brilliant book by the master biographer' Piers Morgan * Hero or villain? If Johnsonâs answers were defensive, inarticulate and unfocused, no editing was required: if he was the victim of a put-up job, then his answers are immaterial. Tom Bower [is] the master of the unauthorised biography' Tatler 'Another brilliant book by the master biographer' Piers Morgan * Hero or villain? Bower is a moralist — certainty is his favourite emotion — and he is principally a biographer of monsters: Robert Maxwell; Mohammed Al Fayed; even Klaus Barbie. Bower quotes extensively, but without attribution, from a piece Johnson wrote for The Oxford Myth, a collection of essays edited by Rachel, writing that Johnson âlater admittedâ that his relationship with the âstoogesâ who helped him win was âfounded on duplicityâ. A former Panorama reporter, his books include unauthorised biographies of Tiny Rowland, Robert Maxwell, Mohamed Al-Fayed, Geoffrey Robinson, Gordon Brown and Richard Branson. There is little that is genuinely new or of interest in Bowerâs account that has not been uncovered by Purnell or Gimson. This approach has two downsides. Thank You. Print + Digital Stephen Bush is political editor of the New Statesman. WH Allen, 592pp, £20. Tom Bower explains in his acknowledgements that this is not an authorised biography and he did not seek Boris Johnson’s co-operation. Charlotte Johnson Wahl reportedly said that she wants ‘the truth to be told’ and claims that her marriage to Stanley was violent and unhappy. Boris Johnsonâs father hit his mother and broke her nose, a new biography has claimed.The alleged incident, which took place in the 1970s, left her needing hospital treatment, according to a That question rears its head at multiple points during the book: are we witnessing a failure of journalism or a failure of character? Maverick or chancer? Their long relationship is one of colleagues rather than friends. The book includes one or two interesting tidbits about Johnsonâs later life. GOT a story? Bower's first book was Blind Eye to Murder (1980), the first exposé based on eyewitnesses and newly released archives in London and Washington of the Allied failure after 1945 to hunt down Nazi war criminals and de-Nazify West Germany. They married in London in early 1943. You have successfully subscribed to our newsletter. Tom Bower [is] the master of the unauthorised biography' Tatler 'Another brilliant book by the master biographer' Piers Morgan * Hero or villain? Boris Johnson book. By continuing to use this website, you consent to our use of these cookies. Itâs unclear if Bower did not understand this or if he wanted to bolster his preferred narrative: that the story of the coronavirus crisis is of a Prime Minister failed by those around him, rather than of a Prime Minister out of his depth. Bower's book will be the third major biography of Johnson following Sonia Purnell’s Just Boris: A Tale of Blond Ambition (Aurum Press, 2011) and Boris: The Rise of Boris Johnson … TRIAL OFFER: 3 Issues for £1. He is certainly right, which makes one wonder why this disclosure takes place on the 527th page of a 528-page biography. Open my cookie preferences. Boris Johnson The Gambler by Tom Bower review: A depressing saga of betrayal, amorality, jealousy and lies. Tom Bower is a blunt instrument to divine someone as complex as Boris Johnson. Before you decide, read this year's most sensational biography. Boris’s dad broke his mum’s nose: Explosive new biography lifts the lid on PM’s affairs, family feuds – and the domestic violence incident that … Tom Gordon Brown was once said by allies of Tony Blair to be “psychologically flawed”. Boris Johnson has been labelled 'the most accomplished liar in public life' by Rory Stewart, a former cabinet colleague who lost out to Johnson in the Tory leadership contest. He made me feel like I deserved it.’, Difficult childhoodThe after-effects of the fall out between his parents had long term repercussions on Boris and the relationships he was able to form with both men and women. Genius or fool? His chief contribution to the sum of knowledge about Boris Johnson lies in allegations about Johnsonâs father, Stanley, here depicted as a philanderer and an abusive husband who frequently hit Johnsonâs mother Charlotte. He doesn’t say much about the actual book, but it’s one of the most important articles on … ... Tom Bower (born 28 September 1946) is a British writer, noted for his investigative journalism and for … Bowerâs less than candid admission about his relationship with one of Johnsonâs allies should not have been the final words of this book, but it ought to be the final word on him.Â, The Gambler Instead, he followed his usual biographical method of interviewing well over 100 people who knew Boris, some named, some not. Bower spends far too much time making declarative statements about matters he cannot possibly know about. Maverick or chancer? Johnsonâs first bid to become president of the Oxford Union, Bower tells us, âcoincided with Margaret Thatcherâs new government being threatened by Marxist trade unionists, especially the miners, in a febrile political atmosphereâ, leading us to believe that perhaps Johnsonâs political ambitions will be thwarted by the Balliol College branch of the National Union of Mineworkers, or failing that by some posh Trots. The Gambler brings to mind that old cliché: it is both good and original, but what is good is not original, and what is original is not good. But a hatchet job requires a level of precision that Bower lacks: his style is more that of a drink driver. The lesson he drew from witnessing marital discord was to avoid confrontation in his life. Bower, who has been responsible for a series of damning biographies about high-profile figures over the years, has a reputation for unearthing damaging revelations about his subjects. AdulteryBower, scrupulous to the nth degree, spoke with Johnson’s ex-wives, Ms Wheeler and Allegra Mostyn-Owen (a one-time Tatler cover), who reportedly said that he had followed in his father’s footsteps by pursuing affairs. Thomas Bauer (as he then was) was born in London in 1946. He had hit me. Rebecca Cope, A new – and first – biography lifts the lid on this relatively little-known, pioneering royal who became ‘Yorkshire’s Princess’ when she married Viscount Lascelles, By T om Bower made his name as a writer of acid-pen biographies … That might be bearable if the resulting book was a pleasure to read, but Bower is no stylist, and his attempts at dramatic flourishes result in moments of accidental farce. Maverick or chancer? GOT a story? The biography claims that Boris Johnson’s father hit his mother and broke her nose in the 1970s, an aggression that left her needing hospital treatment. Tom Bower [is] the master of the unauthorised biography' Tatler 'Another brilliant book by the master biographer' Piers Morgan * Hero or villain? Maverick or chancer? Either we take Bower at face value, and conclude that he embarked on this life of Johnson without once asking the woman with whom he lives for help in explaining a man she has known and worked with for more than three decades, which means we canât trust his judgement. She played no part in researching or writing this book.â He neglects to mention that those seven years in question covered the entirety of Ken Livingstoneâs second term as mayor, during which Wadleyâs Standard was the loudest and most reliable part of Johnsonâs supportersâ club; that from 2012 to 2016 she worked for Johnson while he was mayor of London; and that in the summer of this year Johnson appointed Wadley to the House of Lords. Following an affair with the journalist Petronella Wyatt, Boris’s colleague at the Spectator magazine, Johnson reportedly handed over his life savings to Wheeler as a guarantee of his promise that he would end it. His chief contribution to the sum of knowledge about Boris Johnson lies in allegations about Johnson’s father, Stanley, here depicted as a philanderer and an abusive husband who frequently hit Johnson’s mother Charlotte. A book that suggests, whether through accident or malice, that one-liners deployed by Johnson were insults hurled at him, and that gets dates wrong, canât persuasively lead us to make comforting conclusions about Johnson or the people around him. AmbitionThe Prime Minister’s mother claims in the book that she thinks that his widely-reported ambition to be ‘world king’ as a child came from a desire to ‘make himself unhurtable, invincible, somehow safe from the pains of your mother disappearing for eight months’. by entering your email address, you agree to our privacy policy, In this season’s most dazzling haute couture, Naomie Harris reflects on lockdown loneliness, her glittering career and lighting up the hotly anticipated, and endlessly delayed, Bond film with her #MeToo-era Moneypenny, By Almost everybody Bower writes about is given a disparaging descriptor that calls doubt on their abilities or their motives. Please refresh and try again. In “The player” It reviews the life of a lonely child and an adult incapable of being faithful to their partners.. His mother and ex-wives speak to the investigative journalist in this staggering book that looks for the root cause behind Boris the lost boy, By Inside the December issue, starring Naomie Harris, Inside the first full biography of the Queen’s aunt, Princess Mary – presented as ‘the first modern Princess’, Tatler plays ‘Would You Rather’ with February cover star Daisy Ridley, Lady Swire's Diary: The best lines from the Westminster exposé everyone is talking about. Maverick or chancer? Stanley Johnson, Rachel Johnson, Boris Johnson and Jo Johnson. âStanleyâs violence has forever haunted Boris,â Bower writes, describing a later conversation between Johnson and a girlfriend in which Johnson, talking of his parentsâ split, said: âMy father promised me that they wouldnât divorce, and I could never forgive him for that.â âDivorce,â Bower asserts, is âcode for Stanleyâs rage towards Charlotte.â Bower is even less of a child psychologist than he is a prose stylist and it feels somewhat distasteful to read his speculations about the consequences of Stanleyâs behaviour and what Johnson âmeantâ in referring to it. unwilling to confide in others about his father’s violence, he became a loner.’. That would suggest great powers of prediction on the part of Deedes, as Purnell did not go to Brussels to work with Johnson until 1992. There is nothing in the chapter to alert you to the fact that these sections have been taken from an already-published book: other, that is, than the fact they are noticeably better written than the rest of The Gambler. 11. Itâs emblematic of the failings of Bowerâs book, which brings to mind that old cliché: The Gambler is both good and original, but what is good is not original, and what is original is not good. Rory Stewart does not so much review Tom Bower's biography of Boris Johnson for the TLS as brush the book aside to get at its subject himself. Bower claims that antagonism between Sonia Purnell and Johnson forced Jeremy Deedes, the Telegraphâs chief executive, to visit Brussels in 1989 to get the bottom of the dispute. Tom Bower explains in his acknowledgements that this is not an authorised biography and he did not seek Boris Johnsonâs co-operation. Before you decide, read this year's most sensational biography. Before you decide, read this year's most sensational biography. Tom Bower, who has made his name trying to destroy the reputation of famous figures (from Richard Branson to Prince Charles), chooses in this new biography of Boris Johnson … They were said to be angry with their grandfather for appearing with the Prime Minister’s new fiancée, Carrie Symonds, at a public meeting about the environment. In order to see this embed, you must give consent to Social Media cookies. TOM BOWER: Watch clever, crafty Boris seize the prize that will turn us all into winners December 27, 2020 by Read Sector Besieged by friend and foe, Boris Johnson had been facing a nightmare Christmas. He writes of an interview with the BBCâs Laura Kuenssberg in which Johnson âreeled defensively, unable to articulate a focused message of even limited successâ, which, he claims, had the effect of âmaking it easier for the final edit to be chopped up to suit the BBCâs agendaâ. Genius or fool? Boris Johnson has been on a drive to lose weight since his stint in intensive care battling Covid-19, By Boris Johnson: The Gambler by Tom Bower (WH Allen, £20) is out on October 15. In the biography Johnson Wahl claims: ‘The doctors at the Maudsley spoke to Stanley about his abuse of me. The second problem is that the overall effect is incoherent. There is so much that is not good about The Gambler that it is difficult to know where to start, but it is perhaps best to begin where Bower does not: with his own relationship with Boris Johnson. In this week’s TLS Rory Stewart reviews Tom Bower’s biography of Boris Johnson. Tom Bower, the master of the unauthorised biography, has hand-picked his next subject to sit alongside his books on Robert Maxwell, Conrad Black, Richard Desmond and Mohammed Al-Fayed. Instead, he followed his usual biographical method of interviewing well over 100 people who knew Boris⦠The first is that it is wearying: one almost expects Bower to start weaving in invectives against Johnsonâs local corner shop. Isaac Bickerstaff. To order a copy of Boris Johnson by Tom Bower for £16, call 0844 871 1514 or visit Telegraph Books. And what Bower seems not to have understood is that the people that Johnson duped were not the electorate but the lesser candidates running on his ticket. His parents were Jewish refugees who fled Prague after the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 and arrived in London later that same year. Tom Bower is acknowledged as Britain’s leading investigative writer. Bower writes: ‘Boris agonised over his mother’s fate . It is Stanley who is cast as the architect of Johnsonâs vices and shortcomings. ... A biography should be factual. But these imprecise and poorly written biographies canât be elevated to something theyâre not, simply because it suits some reviewers to throw stones of their own at Johnson and Corbyn. His 24 bestselling books encompass a remarkably wide range of subjects. This article appears in the 23 October 2020 issue of the New Statesman, Ten lessons of the pandemic, How Robert Maxwell bullied his way into the establishment, How Francis Bacon shunned the traditions of British art. The biography also delves into his alleged affair with Jennifer Arcuri, the American entrepreneur who used to accompany him on trips while he was mayor of London and was at the centre of a heated debate last year. The biography is being serialised in the Mail on Sunday and will be available to buy on the 15 October 2020. Tom Bower explains in his acknowledgements that this is not an authorised biography and he did not seek Boris Johnson’s co-operation. This website uses cookies to help us give you the best experience when you visit our website. His most recent books include the most authoritative and best-selling account of Tony Blair’s decade as prime minister and the definitive biographies of Gordon Brown and Geoffrey Robinson MP. Or we can conclude that Bowerâs disclosure note is not just tardy and incomplete but wholly false, which means that we canât trust him. He broke my nose. The book claims that distrust of his father, who is alleged to have had multiple affairs, made him unable to forge close friendships with men so he sought out women as his soulmates in place. To make matters worse, the disclosure is incomplete. For example, while Bower is not the first to report that Dominic Cummings urged Johnson and other Brexiteers to vote for Theresa Mayâs deal, he is to my knowledge the first to get the exact quote, that MPs would be âstrategic idiotsâ if they didnât vote for it. To tell the story, Bower relies heavily not on a posh Trotskyite, but on Johnsonâs sister, Rachel. Charlotte Johnson Wahl reportedly said that she wants ‘the truth to be told’ and claims that her marriage to Stanley was violent and unhappy. Shortly after my review of Tom Bowerâs biography of Jeremy Corbyn had been published, I bumped into a former aide to Tony Blair, who commiserated with me on the painful task of making oneâs way through Bowerâs uneven and error-marked prose. "Tom Bower gives us a better idea of Boris Johnson’s inner demons but is much too forgiving of his many flaws" A biography of this length needs to get a grip on the slippery porcine and answer the question: who is the authentic Boris Johnson? Is this a failure of fact-checking or a desire to belittle the author of a rival biography? Tom Bower explains in his acknowledgements that this is not an authorised biography and he did not seek Boris Johnsonâs co-operation. Boris Johnson: The Gambler by Tom Bower (WH Allen, £20) is out on October 15. Tatler Archive: Boris Johnson’s mother on her ‘soft-hearted’ son, Boris Johnson is latest champion of intermittent fasting trend, Queen to host President Joe Biden at Buckingham Palace this summer. Investigative journalist Tom Bower says Boris Johnson's weakness is that "he doesn't understand how to run Downing Street." Broken familyThe book recounts a family gathering at Chequers last year for Stanley’s 79th birthday where his son’s joviality ‘could not conceal the strained mood’ and Boris Johnson’s four children with Marina Wheeler rejected the invitation. Before you decide, read this year's most sensational biography. Bower made his name as the author of âhatchet jobsâ of Robert Maxwell, Richard Branson and Conrad Black, and has since added politicians to his list of subjects, with books on Gordon Brown, Corbyn, Blair and now Johnson. Read 14 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. The sad childhood of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, along with his three brothers, and his father’s violence towards his depressed mother it is recounted in a new British biography of investigative journalist Tom Bower. Annabel Sampson, In 1974, Johnson’s mother suffered a nervous breakdown and was admitted to the Maudsley Hospital, south London, which specialises in mental health care, and isolated for eight months. You can opt out at any time or find out more by reading our cookie policy. His daily briefing, Morning Call, provides a quick and essential guide to domestic and global politics. Who is Boris Johnson’s first wife, former Tatler cover girl Allegra Mostyn-Owen?