Source: Annie Spratt
On October 10th, 2024 I ordered the freshly released Boris Johnson memoir, Unleashed (Croft,2024). None of my relatives or friends from the UK, nor any of my classmates, paid any attention to this book—except for me, just because it was placed on bookshelves the same day I blew out the candles on my birthday cake. As a political science student, I wanted to reverse the usual dynamic: instead of reading academic critiques of populist leaders, I wanted to see how these politicians portray themselves, how they describe their public image and decision-making. With Unleashed, I finally had that opportunity in my hands.
Boris Johnson’s memoir covers his early days in journalism, his time editing The Spectator, his two terms as Mayor of London, and his premiership from 2019 to 2022. The politician played a pivotal role in Brexit as one of the leading figures of the 2016 “Vote Leave” campaign, using his platform to argue for British sovereignty and immigration control outside the EU. His support was seen as crucial to the Leave campaign’s success, particularly due to his high public profile and persuasive rhetoric (Shipman, 2016). As Prime Minister from 2019, Johnson renegotiated the Brexit deal with the EU and led the UK through its formal withdrawal on January 31, 2020. His campaign slogan “Get Brexit Done” became a key driver of the Conservative Party’s 2019 election victory.
While Brexit is a central theme throughout the memoir, Johnson also devotes considerable attention to his handling of COVID-19, his conflicts with the judiciary, and his vision for Britain’s future. In these 772 pages (including notes and thick, glossy photos), Boris Johnson describes his tenure as a prominent leader of the UK. The narrative is infused with pop culture and historical references, some tracing as far back as Ancient Greece. Throughout his career and in Unleashed, Boris Johnson repeatedly compares himself to figures like Julius Caesar, Pericles, and Cincinnatus, attempting to convince the reader of “apparent” similarities that they share.
You can’t deny that Boris Johnson possesses an utterly unexplainable charisma that once drew public attention to his persona. On the other hand, several media outlets and political scientists have consequently labelled Johnson as a populist: for example, Historian Sir Richard J. Evans has characterized him as “a firm believer in the great man theory of history.”
Populism is a serious threat to democratic erosion. According to Jan-Werber Müller (2016), populism isn’t just about criticizing elites—it’s the belief that only the populist represents “the people”. This framework delegitimizes political opposition and undermines core democratic norms.
In Unleashed, Boris Johnson constructs himself as a leader misunderstood by the elite but loved by the people. His attacks on the EU as bureaucratic and his depiction of Brexit as a righteous reclamation of national sovereignty fit well within the populist narrative. Oborne (2023) writes, “Johnson is not simply a British phenomenon. His empty but dangerous populism is part of a global trend.”
The language the politician uses throughout the memoir—with its engaging deployment of onomatopoeia (the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named), and cheeky self-mockery – furthers the image of a relatable, unpolished, and fearless leader. Weber’s notion of “charismatic leadership” (Breuilly, 2011) helps explain this performance: Johnson legitimizes his power through personal magnetism and a carefully crafted everyman persona.
Throughout the book, Johnson portrays himself as a resilient crisis leader, recalling his determination to govern through his COVID-19 diagnosis: “I needed to bee-oing-oing back on to my feet like an India rubber ball” (p. 445). As Laclau’s theory explains, populist leaders use this strategy to cultivate a devoted base (Arditi, 2010). They seek to project simplicity, accessibility, shared values, and an apparent rejection of personal gain in favor of the common good. Boris Johnson masterfully employs these tactics. He positions himself as the one who truly understands what the people want and, above all, the one who could protect them from the country’s alleged main antagonist: the European Union.
News reports, however, painted a different picture. Seddon (2023) in his article for BBC stated: “Mr. Johnson has been criticised for being slow to make decisions during the pandemic and being unable to make up his mind about what to do.” McGee (2020) agrees: “Critics have accused Johnson of abdicating leadership and adopting vague positions on both in order to keep his party in line … Historians in years to come may view this period as the nadir of his leadership, depths from which he may struggle to recover.”
Boris Johnson uses similar framing in describing his response to the 2011 riots, claiming he had “no option” but to face the public. However, records show he was vacationing in Canada at the time and initially refused to return (Addley & Neate, 2019). These inconsistencies highlight the performative nature of Johnson’s populist appeal.
Despite achieving Brexit, Boris Johnson’s tenure also witnessed several challenges to democratic norms such as a five-week prorogation (the action of discounting a session) of Parliament in 2019 (ruled unlawful), public attacks on judges, and the “Partygate” scandal. While in the memoir he defends these as media distortions, institutional assessments suggest otherwise.
The “Democracy Index” by the Economist Intelligence Unit, available through Our World in Data, tracks the UK’s democratic health on a 0–10 scale. Before Johnson’s term (2018-2019), the UK’s score was 8.52. During his time in office (2019-2022), it dropped to 8.1, indicating measurable democratic decline. Since his resignation, the score has risen slightly to 8.3, still lower than pre-Johnson levels.
Despite scandal and resignation, Johnson closes Unleashed by celebrating his contributions: “I have built and done or set in train a lot of things that are useful, from hire bikes to new nuclear reactors…” (p. 731). But for all its grandiosity, Unleashed feels less like a legacy and more like an attempt to reclaim relevance. It is a blend of mythology, political theatre, and a deeply personal campaign for redemption. The public, it seems, is not convinced as rare reviewers, readers, and the British public are not eager to revisit the promises some once believed in.
Reference list:
Addley, E., & Neate, R. (2019, July 16). Boris Johnson’s early days as mayor: “it was total, total chaos.” The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jul/16/total-chaos-boris-johnson-london-mayor
Arditi, B. (2010). review essay: Populism is hegemony is politics? on Ernesto Laclau’s on populist reason. Constellations, 17(3), 488–497. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8675.2010.00587.x
BBC. (2020, December 30). Brexit: What you need to know about the UK leaving the EU. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-32810887
Breuilly, J. (2011). Max Weber, charisma and Nationalist leadership1. Nations and Nationalism, 17(3), 477–499. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8129.2011.00487.x
Croft, E. (2024, June 20). Londoner’s diary: Boris Johnson announces release date for his memoir “unleashed.” The Standard. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/londoners-diary/boris-johnson-release-date-memoir-unleashed-b1165630.html
Democracy index. Our World in Data. (2025). https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/democracy-index-eiu
Evans, R. J. (2024, October 15). The churchill factor: “One man who made history” by another who just makes it up. New Statesman. https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2014/11/the-churchill-factor-review-boris-johnson-history-made-up
Johnson, B. (2024). Unleashed. Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers.
McGee, L. (2020, December 19). Analysis: Boris Johnson is facing two hellish weeks. critics fear his weak leadership could seriously harm the UK. CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/19/uk/boris-johnson-covid-christmas-brexit-intl-gbr/index.html
Müller, J. W. (2016, September 2). Trump, Erdoğan, Farage: The attractions of populism for politicians, the dangers for democracy. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/sep/02/trump-erdogan-farage-the-attractions-of-populism-for-politicians-the-dangers-for-democracy
Oborne, P. (2023, December 9). Boris Johnson is gone for good, but his brand of empty populism is still very much alive | Peter Oborne. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/09/boris-johnson-empty-populism-covid-inquiry
Seddon, P. (2023, December 6). I should have twigged covid threat earlier, admits Boris Johnson. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-67639813
Shipman, T. (2016). All out war: The full story of how Brexit sank Britain’s political class. William Collins.
Sobolewska, M., & Ford, R. (2020). Brexitland. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108562485
Stokes, T., Low, H., & Lindsay, A. (2022, July 7). Boris Johnson: Did his time as London mayor foreshadow his demise?. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-60053195
This is a really interesting idea to write about how a Populist leader such as Boris Johnson portrays himself. I like how you tied Johnson’s self-image and his charismatic demeanor to Müller’s and Weber’s definition of populism. In doing so you highlight the risks it poses to democracies. You also did a good job contrasting the narratives in Unleashed with outside evidence and reporting. This made the insights into his actions far more meaningful, by showing the disconnect between Johnson’s self-image and his actual leadership.