Boris Johnson: Going

“As snow-jobs go, this beats the Himalayas.”

Boris Johnson

"The BBC was doing its job - bring back Gilligan", Daily Telegraph, 29 January 2004, p. 21.
Reaction to the Hutton Report.
2000s, 2004

“We can all spend an awfully long time going over lots of stuff that I’ve written over the last 30 years… all of which in my view have been taken out of context, but never mind… I’m afraid that there is such a rich thesaurus now of things that I have said that have been one way or another, through what alchemy I do not know, somehow misconstrued that it would take me too long to engage in a full global itinerary of apology to all concerned.”

Boris Johnson

in his first meeting with the press during visit by US Secretary of state John Kerry in July 2016 "Theresa May dodges question about Boris Johnson's use of racial slurs" http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/pmqs-theresa-may-boris-johnson-racist-slur-picanninies-party-kenyan-obama-dodges-question-uk-foreign-a7146126.html, Independent (July 20, 2016); "Kerry poker-faced as press takes Johnson to task for 'outright lies'" http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/20/politics/boris-johnson-john-kerry-presser/index.html, CNN (July 20, 2016)
2010s, 2016

Way , Time

“We have a new team ready to go in to City Hall. Where there have been mistakes we will rectify them. Where there are achievements we will build on them.”

Boris Johnson

2000s, 2008, First Speech As London Mayor (May 3, 2008)

“I want to thank Sian [Berry, Green Party] and Lindsey [German, Left List] and Alan [Craig, Christian Peoples Party] and Gerard [Batten, UKIP], who have sometimes joined us for hustings, but mainly I want to thank my two colleagues in the strange triumvirate who have been trundling around London's church halls and TV studios violently disputing the meaning of multiculturalism and the exact cost of conductors. On which point I think I'm going to declare victory.”

Boris Johnson

2000s, 2008, First Speech As London Mayor (May 3, 2008)

People , Thinking , Victory

“I lost the job. Well the honest truth is that this has been embellished by, probably by me, in the sense that there were two of us who were taken on as trainees, and this was in the 80s, I think it was the late 80s, and it was him or me who was going to get the job at the end of, at the end of, eight months or nine months. It was mano-a-mano and of course it was him who got it.”

Boris Johnson

Interviewed on Desert Island Discs http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00935b6, first broadcast on 30 October 2005, about his early journalistic career working for The Times and then as Brussels correspondent for The Daily Telegraph. In fact, rather than failing to beat another trainee to win a permanent position, he was sacked for falsifying a quotation http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6901161.stm.
2000s, 2005

Truth , Thinking , Sense

“I advise you all very strongly - go for a run, get some exercise, and have a beautiful day.”

Boris Johnson

Valentine Low, "Shiver me timbers Boris", Evening Standard, 15 November 2004, p. 3.
Cornered by reporters asking about his affair after a morning run.
2000s, 2004

Beauty , Exercises

“The excitement is growing so much I think the Geiger counter of Olympo-mania is going to go zoink off the scale.”

Boris Johnson

2010s, 2012
Source: On the forthcoming London Olympic Games. Daily Telegraph, 27 July 2012.

Thinking

“I'm a rugby player, really, and I knew I was going to get to him, and when he was about two yards away I just put my head down. There was no malice. I was going for the ball with my head, which I understand is a legitimate move in soccer.”

Boris Johnson

Ed Harris, "Boris bites Herr legs...: The MP for Henley does his bit for Anglo-German diplomacy", Evening Standard, 4 May 2006, p. 9.
On his tackle on German midfielder Maurizio Gaudino in a charity football match.
2000s, 2006

Understanding

“I think I was once given cocaine but I sneezed so it didn't go up my nose. In fact, it may have been icing sugar.”

Boris Johnson

"Londoner's Diary", Evening Standard, 17 October 2005, p. 15.
2000s, 2005

Thinking

“I just say to everybody in the country, including everyone in Parliament, the fundamental choice is this: Are you going to side with Jeremy Corbyn and those who want to cancel the referendum? Are you going to side with those who want to scrub the democratic verdict of the people - and plunge this country into chaos. Or are you going to side with those of us who want to get on, deliver the mandate of the people and focus with absolute, laser-like precision on the domestic agenda?”

Boris Johnson

Brexit: Michel Barnier rejects demands for backstop to be axed https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49540681 BBC News (1 September 2019)
2010s, 2019

People , Country

“We are going to energise the country. We are going to get Brexit done on 31 October and take advantage of all the opportunities it will bring with a new spirit of can do. We are once again going to believe in ourselves, and like some slumbering giant we are going to rise and ping off the guy ropes of self doubt and negativity.”

Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson wins race to be Tory leader and PM https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49084605 BBC News (23 July 2019)
2010s, 2019

Self-confidence , Guy , Country

“If you do that you have to answer the question what next? What if the Iranians do rush for a nuclear weapon? Are we seriously saying that we are going to bomb those facilities at Fordo and Natanz? Is that really a realistic possibility? Or do we work round what we have got and push back on Iran together?”

Boris Johnson

Iran nuclear deal: Johnson courts Trump on Fox & Friends https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-44026548, BBC News, 7 May 2018
2010s, 2018

Question

“I want to stress that for the vast majority of the people of this country, we should be going about our business as usual.”

Boris Johnson

2020s, 2020
Source: As quoted in Coronavirus: Up to fifth of UK workers 'could be off sick at same time' https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-51718917, 3 March 2020, BBC News.

Business , People , Country

“£60,000,000 I saw was being spaffed up the wall on some investigation into historic child abuse. What on earth is that going to do to protect the people now?”

Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson: Money Spent Investigating Historical Child Abuse Is "Spaffed Up The Wall" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_FSqfXyUFk, LBC, 14 March 2019
2010s, 2019

People

“I do think they [the EU] understand there's an opportunity to do a deal. I think it's going to be touch and go.”

Boris Johnson

2010s, 2019
Source: Brexit: Johnson accused of ‘gaslighting’ voters amid claims he offered nothing new in EU meeting https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-deal-boris-johnson-donald-tusk-meeting-g7-summit-a9078646.html (26 August 2019)

Understanding , Thinking

“There's a terrible kind of collaboration as it were, going on between people who think they can block Brexit in Parliament and our European friends.”

Boris Johnson

Source: Boris Johnson: Brexit opponents 'collaborating' with EU https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49348072 BBC News (14 August 2019)

People , Thinking

“We want to, and we are going to, deliver on the mandate of the people, which is to take the UK out of the EU whole and entire on 31 October.”

Boris Johnson

Source: Boris Johnson 'absolutely' rules out pre-Brexit election https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49125078 BBC News (26 July 2019)

People

“There is no plan for no deal because we are going to get a great deal.”

Boris Johnson

Source: Boris Johnson: EU can 'go whistle' over Brexit divorce bill https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-40571123, BBC News, 11 July 2017

“The EU is 50 years old, it is going in the wrong direction. It is time for real reform. The only way to get that is to leave.”

Boris Johnson

Source: Boris Johnson: EU exit 'win-win for us all' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-35783049 BBC News (11 March 2016)

Time , Way

“There is only one way to get the change we need - and that is to vote to go; because all EU history shows that they only really listen to a population when it says no.”

Boris Johnson

Source: EU referendum: Leaving EU a 'leap in the dark' says Cameron https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-35634239 BBC News (22 February 2016)

History , Way , Change