Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
The Boris Johnson show
Boris Johnsn's fickle and opportunist ways were on full show during his tenure as London Mayor, remembers MURAD QURESHI
Broken Britain Boris: As mayor Johnson was heckled in Clapham Junction over the London riots

AS BORIS JOHNSON, MP for Uxbridge becomes a shoo-in for the next Tory Party leader and as a result the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, let us not forget what we are really getting — the next instalment of the Boris Johnson show.

While l was at City Hall for the whole of his two terms, my abiding memory of Boris Johnson as mayor of London was when the riots started in the summer of 2011. He did not want to come back from his holidays when London was burning.

It was the only time he was well out of kilter with the public mood in London and so much so that he got a very hostile reception when he did eventually get back to a public meeting. At that critical point the English riots of 2011 were very much a London affair before spreading throughout England. The London mayor was criticised by locals over the slow police response to high street looting and his sluggish return from holiday as he was heckled in Clapham Junction over the London riots.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
mBRIDGE MOVERS AND SHAKERS: (L to R) The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates HQ in Abu Dhabi; the International Finance Centre in Central, Hong Kong / Pics (L to R) : Achilver/CC, Exploringlife/CC
Economy / 9 September 2026
9 September 2026

US financial instability is exposing the limits of a dollar-dominated global economy — and giving the Global South a historic chance to build an alternative, says MURAD QURESHI

Tributes left after a vigil, organised by campaign group Stand Up to Racism, for Professor Jason Arday on the steps of the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, central London, August 17, 2026
Media / 18 August 2026
18 August 2026

CLAUDIA WEBBE speaks out against the lethal mechanics of Britain’s culture-war press

Robert Jenrick with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage at a Reform UK press conference in Westminster, London, where it was announced the former Conservative MP has joined Reform UK, January 15, 2026
Politics / 17 January 2026
17 January 2026

Once derided by Farage as a ‘fraud,’ Jenrick has defected to Reform, bringing experience and political ruthlessness to the populist right —  and raising the unsettling prospect of a Farage-led movement with a seasoned operative pulling the strings, says ANDREW MURRAY

Dr Freud
Theatre review / 16 September 2025
16 September 2025

JAN WOOLF is beguiled by the tempting notion that Freud psychoanalysed Hitler in a comedy that explores the vulnerability of a damaged individual