I do think there is more than a grain of truth in Purnell's less than criticism than Boris using this dual identity to further his undoubted political ambitions by playing the 'dumb blonde' card:
Men generally want to show off how clever they are; clever women are rather good in my experience at fluttering their eyelashes a bit and going, “Oh well, I don't really understand this” and then getting amazing stories [she is referring to journalism]. I think Boris [played] the dumb blond trick in the hope of getting something.
This is a refrain to which Purnell regularly returns, which perhaps explains why the Mayor's PR head was so anxious that a serialisation of this book should not run in the national media that he threatened senior involvement from Downing Street.
This is a well researched biography that will be of interest to watchers of London and UK politics. However, for me it was far too concentrated on 'Boris' and often what read as personal attacks rather than his actual record in office but then, as the parliamentary journalist Quentin Letts explained in talking of his failure as a MP in parliamentary debates (quoted in the book), perhaps that's the way Johnson likes it:
Boris isn't angry. You've got to be angry: you've got to feel things as an MP, but there's no soul, no church in him. No belief. Most people don't just go into politics out of vanity, but maybe he has.
If Letts is right then the fact that he has (and that the British public have allowed him) succeeded is a damning indictment of us all, that is not a party-political point but one of democratic integrity. If. There's not doubt that Purnell would be in agreement with Letts, however.
Article comments
1 - Andrew Denny
What a juvenile & unperceptive piece. I hesitate to call it a 'review'. It tells us little or nothing about the book, or indeed about its subject. It only tells us about the state of the reviewer's biases & bigotries.
2 - barry
Shows what having a1st in a useless subject does for you. Childish ill informed and badly written. I would never recommend this blogger to anyone in fact quite the reverse. The reviewer is self absorbed, narrow in their critique and should be thoroughly ashamed for writing such a 3rd rate reveiw.
3 - Casper
Glad I helped you get that off your chest Barry! Feel better?
4 - Dr Dreadful
If Boris is going to be the next Conservative prime minister he's got to get himself elected to Parliament first. Getting ahead of ourselves a bit here, aren't we?
5 - Casper
I don't think he will btw.
There's no technical reason why they can't both happen at the same time (or even as a Lord but I don't know when that last happened and is v. v. unlikely) but if it were to happen it won't be for a while - Cameron will lead to the next election which, if they lose, could be Boris' chance. He will have no problem finding a seat if he wants one (as he has in the past) but he is getting far more exposure now than he would as a backbencher so the Mayorship suits him.