Boris Johnson

Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964 in New York City, New York, United States of America) is a British journalist, Conservative Party politician and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 24 July 2019. From 1999 to December 2005 Johnson was editor of the conservative magazine The Spectator. Since 2015 he has represented the constituency of Uxbridge and South Ruislip in west Greater London in the House of Commons, where he served for Henley from 2001 to 2008. He was Mayor of London from May 2008 to May 2016 and British Foreign Secretary from July 2016 to July 2018. Johnson has also been Chairman of the Commonwealth of Nations since 2019.

Johnson led the campaign for the UK to leave the European Union ahead of the 23 June 2016 referendum, and was seen as one of the favourites to succeed Prime Minister David Cameron at the time. On 23 July 2019, he was elected leader of the Conservative Party. A day later, he took over as Prime Minister from Theresa May. In October 2019, he brought about a snap general election, which took place on 12 December 2019 and gave the Conservatives a majority in Parliament.

Since March 2020, the UK has been overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic; Johnson also fell ill. His policy against the pandemic was characterized by major changes in course. On 7 July 2022, due to a lack of support in the Conservative faction, Johnson resigned as party leader and announced that he would step down as prime minister once a successor was elected.