He Jests At Scars

Chapter One
“Every time my friends and I were going to play, before we actually started, I used to take the bat and the ball, climb on a chair and say, ‘You’ve got to hear a speech of mine, or a poem I have written.’ When I had finished, they clapped and the game began.”
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Extract from an article in THE TIMES, June 12th 1999
“The Times is greatly saddened to report the passing of respected and much-beloved journalist Petronella Wyatt, who was killed yesterday morning in a car crash outside her home in London. [1] Wyatt, a columnist for The Spectator and the Daily Mail was known for her blunt, informal style and her television appearances on both Question Time and Newsnight.”
Extract from, “Our Man in England” by Max Kessler
“The summer of 2005 would prove to be the most important of the first half of the 21st century, though none of the participants of the Conservative leadership race would have known it.
Johnson, already an immensely popular figure after five years as a proactive and highly visible Vice-Chairman, wielded significant influence within the Party machine. However, he faced a myriad of problems when he put his name down to lead the Conservative Party following Michael Howard’s resignation. Among these was the entrenched view of the Conservative Old Guard that Boris was a dangerous populist and a wrecker. This faction, which was led by former Prime Minister John Major, eventually coalesced around David Davis, a man described as “stern and sensible” by both his friends and his enemies.
With the support of Cameron (who doubtless probably thought it better that Boris be brought in to disrupt the party machine allowing him to reform the party after BoJo inevitably crashed and burned) Johnson was able to secure the endorsement of such a wide plethora of individuals as Andrew Lansley, Iain Duncan Smith and Theresa May. With his promises of ‘reform and revolution’ he energised a party that had been sleepwalking for so long.
What really synched it for Johnson was his outstanding, ‘Building a Greater Britain’ speech on June 29th which returned him to the media spotlight. In it, Johnson highlighted the growing discontent among the working and middle, increasing poverty and financial instability in Britain, and called for the British Government to unite the social classes and strive for ‘popular unity’. It blew away any of the other speeches his opponents could muster; by the time the members’ vote was called the competition was more or less already decided.”
Extract from, “The British Political Encyclopedia” by E. D. Thomas, Strassman Publishing
2005 Conservative Party Leadership Election: An election to determine the leadership of the Conservative Party following the resignation of Leader Michael Howard as a result of the 2005 General Election.
The results of the first ballot were as follows:
Boris Johnson: 65 (32.82%)
David Davis: 62 (31.1%)
Liam Fox: 38 (19.19%)
Kenneth Clarke: 33 (16.66%)
The results of the second ballot were as follows:
Boris Johnson: 96 (48.4%)
David Davis: 51 (25.7%)
The results of the members’ vote were as follows:
Boris Johnson: 143,167 (72%)
David Davis: 55,677 (28%)
Extract from “Good Old Boris” by Peter Dinges
“Boris Johnson securing the Conservative leadership shook the earth of British politics. Boris was a staunch Conservative and libertarian, however the fact that the man had a power base outside of the party itself raised eyebrows and estranged potential allies. The winter months of 2005 were a time of reflection and consolidation within the Tory Party. As Johnson himself put it, “Our job was to kiss each other on the lips and say, ‘Darling, I never meant those things I said.’ It had a veneer of superficiality to it, but Party unity had to be maintained.’
Once the winter was over, Johnson began work on both his public image and on the Conservative platform. Johnson, a serial philanderer, was forced to temper his appetite and cut off several awkward extra-marital affairs, the details of which would not fully emerge until long after Johnson had left office. [1] Fond of hyperbole and bombast, and already well-renowned for several controversial statements, Johnson was forced to tone down his rhetoric so as to not immediately plunge the Party into controversy. In his acceptance speech, Johnson spoke of, ‘The pressing and overwhelming need to end partisan squabbling, mend the economy and defeat terrorism.’ Hard to believe this is the same man who made the now infamous Manchester Central Convention Complex speech of 2018.”
Extract from, “A Dream of Unity: My Life as Leader” by Boris Johnson
“To enter the political fray at that time was an exhilarating experience for me. To think that I, a mere backbencher who, not four years ago, had never set foot in parliament, could rise to become leader of the world’s oldest and greatest political party. In all sincerity, I wandered through the last few months of 2005 in something that might have been approaching a dream. However, as Christmas came upon us, and the political realities of my role dawned on me, I found myself more energized than ever before.
I realized fairly early on that only a concerted effort would allow us to break the stranglehold of the Blairite. The Tories had become complacent during the 1990s and slipped into a malaise. Say what you will of Tony, lord knows I have, but his screeds about a new kind of politics captured the public’s attention, or at least, it
had. To seize the initiative required a platform that made Britons feel proud after more than a decade of humiliation at home and abroad. The time had come for the Conservative Party to become the pre-eminent force in British politics once again.”
[1] Our POD, in OTL she and Johnson had an affair that led to his dismissal as Party Vice-Chairman in 2005. In this TL, with her tragic death, Boris never has the affair, allowing his career to continue unimpeded.
[2] Dinges is over-exaggerating here, but not by much.