Johnson at 10: The Inside Account

My insights from the team behind the new political history of Johnson's premiership

(All opinions here are mine alone and not affiliated with the authors)

Johnson at 10 is available at Waterstones, Amazon, Hive and Audible.

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As many who read The Political Inquiry will know, I’ve been working on the exciting Johnson at 10 project for the best part of a year, primarily in the form of Chief Researcher. With the book finally out I want to reflect on the process of its creation, its revelations and possible impact, and in doing so attempt to convince everyone why they must buy a copy! 

The Process
Beginning with the bosses: Anthony Seldon and Raymond Newell, two highly distinguished contemporary historians and researchers. Their dual authorship, returning after their critically acclaimed May at 10, is as potent as it is eloquent. Towards the end of the project I embodied a more editorial role after much of the primary research was completed, and in doing so witnessed how seamlessly each fed off the other’s talent, crafting chapters that were both revelatory, complex but pithy all at once. A dynamic duo few in political writing can rival.

Johnson at 10 has continued the reinvention of contemporary political history, as seen with other major works of this period, particularly Tim Shipman’s All Out War (2016) and Fallout (2017).

As Robert Saunders recently wrote on the new histories of this period:

After decades in which it was fashionable to doubt the importance of politics, Brexit reasserted the importance of ideological conflict, high political manoeuvre, electoral competition and constitutional struggle as forces worthy of historical inquiry. Academic historians should not vacate that terrain if they do not wish the history of Brexit to be written solely by partisans, or for mythic histories of Brexit to become embedded in public debate

Seldon and Newell did not vacate the terrain but launched headlong into it – tackling the difficulties of Brexit in Johnson's rise, parliamentary deadlock, the 2019 election and the complexities of negotiating the future relationship. 

The methodology behind the book feeds seamlessly into my own thoughts on political power: namely the intermingling of what's called ‘agency’ theory with deeper political-historical trends. In plain English, individuals have a significant impact on politics and power, but so do the longer-term political trends and theory. Any fair account of power and government must synthesise these two effects. Too much of the individual and we lose perspective, too much of the context and you lose the individual’s impact in a web of unintelligible political theory or history (I have explored this in my three-tier theory of power on TPI). Several topics Seldon and Newell examine in the book have multifaceted origins and resulting constraints on power, whether Covid, Brexit, Ukraine, political realignment in the 2019 election or the deep ideological confusion of the Conservative party. Each issue is considered in tandem with Johnson’s No.10, his personal decisions and abilities, creating a wholly conclusive account which I feel will withstand academic scrutiny or attempts at revisionism.

The book is built upon high quality primary research – with over 200 witnesses interviewed; including many notable individuals who were at the heart of Johnson’s government. This level of access is rare, combining both political aides and civil servants, as well as wider political players. We were able to gain such brilliant insights not just because of Seldon and Newell’s trusted reputations, but because Johnson himself went through three different No.10 teams in just three years. The wealth of experience that resulted was unmatched for such a short premiership: Theresa May only had two No.10 teams and David Cameron, arguably, just one.

The Revelations
The new revelations the book discovers will do little to change your preconceived opinion of Johnson, who you will likely either love or hate. However, the reaction I’ve had from many with varying opinions of Johnson runs along the lines of: ‘Wow, when you condense such a historically incredible and controversial period into a book it is astonishingly hard-hitting.’ Johnson at 10 offers no breaks nor polishes over the stark realities of a premiership mired in scandal and littered with failure. ‘Even though I was there’ as one insider said, ‘the book is both tangible and unbelievable at the same time.’ It's very easy to lapse into a sense of perma-crisis fuelled amnesia when thinking about the last five years of British politics. But, contemporary history forces us to contemplate the recent past in-depth, offering a sense of catharsis for everyone – even those with heavy regrets of what was undoubtedly a wasted opportunity.

The book tells the history of Johnson’s premiership through several core questions:  

How did Johnson rise to become prime minister in the British political system? How was Brexit achieved through prorogation and purges?  What really caused the 2019 election victory? Did Johnson have an ideology or any beliefs at all? What actually happened during Covid, and how did it look from the inside? Dominic Cummings – remember him?! What did Johnson contribute (or not) to domestic and foreign policy? Why did No.10 descend into chaotic court politics? How did Johnson really fall?
  
There is so much in the 582-page epic to talk about, and only so many words one can handle in a substack, so instead, while you order the book from your preferred outlet I’ll highlight several revelations I personally found intriguing:

( nudge, nudge: Johnson at 10 is available at Waterstones, Amazon, Hive and Audible.)


1. No.10 Dynamics
It's almost impossible to truly know what was happening inside No.10 during a ongoing premiership, bar a few notable journalists' reports. What we found was a fascinating set of dynamics, with different factions and individuals gaining immense power before rapidly losing it. Johnson’s trust was transient and highly conditional. Briefing and backstabbing were regular occurrences, and the book has excruciating detail on these aspects of the court of King Boris. Nowhere is this so obvious than the breakup of Johnson’s first team, led by Chief Advisor Dominic Cummings and Director of Communications Lee Cain. Their departure was partly influenced by Johnson’s wife Carrie (then Symmonds):

Lee Cain offered promotion but was then leaked against, leading to his resignation (bold added):

The Prime Minister wants you to be chief of staff,’ he [Simon Case] whispered. The next day, Cain saw Johnson in his office. ‘You are my guide. I agree with all you wrote in your note, you are my person, we have been together through thick and thin,’ the PM told him. Cain asked for time to think it through, not certain whether to believe Johnson. But that evening, before he committed himself, news of the appointment was leaked to The Times. He concluded that Symonds was behind it in an attempt to torpedo the whole plan. She had seen Cummings and Cain all but destroy her partner in the previous months: she had her own ideas about the staff needed to make sense of his premiership.

What followed on 11 November gives a mesmerising portrait of how deranged Johnson’s life as PM could be. When early in the day Cain confronted him about the leak he became very bothered. ‘Hose it down, hose it down – this is a disaster,’ Johnson said, telling him, ‘Say it’s not true about the appointment.’ ‘But it is true, you offered me the job, and we can’t escape it,’ Cain replied. When Alex Wickham at Politico, Carrie’s friend and godfather to baby Wilfred, 8, put out that the offer was a fabrication, Cain saw red, now certain beyond any doubt it could only have been briefed by Johnson himself or Carrie. He stormed in to see him and vented his anger.

‘I’ve worked with you for four years, I am not fucking happy and I am going to quit.’

‘Please stay with me, you can have it. I’ll offer you any job.’

‘You have actively briefed against me, and I have no intention of taking the job.’

With them still at standoff, Johnson had to rush out for a visit so they agreed to reconvene later that afternoon. Johnson returned via a Covid meeting at 5 p.m. and they sat down again. ‘I’m really sorry, Lee. You have to do the job. It wouldn’t work any other way,’ Johnson told him. Cain was persistent that he couldn’t work with him any more.

‘Look, I’m really sorry,’ he replied. ‘I’ve had Carrie all over me. I’m very sorry. I can only trust you.’
‘I don’t believe you.’
‘This whole thing is driving me crazy. You have to do the job. It wouldn’t work any other way. I don’t care about what Carrie thinks, you are the only person who protects me.’

At that point, Reynolds [PPS] interrupted them to say the weekly call with the Queen was imminent. Cain waited and waited, the Palace call long over, but saw no sign of him. He was about to give up when the PM suddenly reappeared dishevelled and distraught.

‘I’m so sorry, Commissar. Carrie has been onto me. She says that you and Dom are totally against me. Oh my God, Lee, it’s a disaster. What am I going to do?’

‘Hang on, an hour ago you told me that she would no longer have any influence. Now you’re telling me that you have to do what she says. I’m going to resign tonight. I’ve had enough. This whole building is so toxic, I’ll resign.’

‘Please don’t.’ ‘I’ll call James Slack, and you can appoint him director of communications in my place.’ Cain stormed out leaving Johnson alone; he sought out Cummings and told him about the bizarre day. ‘If you’re off, it’s a total madhouse and I will quit as well,’ Cummings said. Cain and Cummings both squarely blamed Symonds for poisoning Johnson against them, and believed she had vindictively leaked.

2. Johnson’s dark side
While inspiring love and adoration in many, Johnson had a largely unknown nasty side when attacked or threatened. There are many moments, especially during different crises in No.10, where this side came out. The level of personal attacks used degraded both the role of prime minister and hurt the people around him. It’s not to say swearing or anger must be absent from No.10, but when dealing with serious problems it requires a serious attitude, not one of playground politics and brutish takedowns behind peoples backs (which everyone will always find out). Here are a few remarkable examples (harsh language warning):


Treatment of his brother Jo Johnson:

His brother’s resignation hit Johnson hard. Not only siblings, Jo’s wife was close friends with Marina, and Johnson was struggling to come to terms with the upheavals in his personal life, exacerbated by the bombshell news of Carrie discovering she was pregnant. The pent-up frustration unbottled itself as he addressed his aides, as one recalls. ‘Those perfidious fuckers,’ he told them. ‘I’ll deal with anyone who goes against me.’

Purging of the Tory remainers:

The Prime Minister pulled aside one hesitant minister: ‘You have to understand why we’ve done this. These people are cunts, utter cunts.’ The Cabinet minister was shocked, but not for the reason that Johnson intended

Treatment of Matt Hancock:

The level of respect for the Health Secretary had so depleted that, after months of Cummings and allies referring to Hancock as ‘that cunt’, by summer even the Prime Minister started joining in. While doing some regional interviews Johnson let the phrase slip out – his blushes spared by it being a pre-recording rather than live broadcast. Cain forced the Prime Minister to call Hancock and apologise in case word got out, downplaying it as a one-off accidental joke

Johnson’s nickname for Sunak:

That little fucker

3. The Plot
Was Johnson taken down? Well, in short, no. As Seldon and Newell state, ‘in his beginning was his end.’ There was certainly no ‘woke-remainer-establishment’ or ‘new elite’ of Matthew Goodwin’s ilk (Values, Voice and Virtue 2023) which destroyed Johnson’s premiership. Johnson, notoriously, was the third prime minister brought down by Boris Johnson. There were possibly more machinations behind his downfall than first realised, but the idea they substantially affected the result of Johnson’s premiership is unlikely. The supposed culprits of Sunak, Dougie Smith (advisor), Munira Mirza (Chief of Policy) and Oliver Dowden – all ironically either leavers or culture warriors – remain adamant there was not a plot to remove Johnson. Dowden’s recent promotion to Deputy PM and Smith’s presence in Sunak’s No.10 certainly may raise questions about motives for which readers can decide the answer.


Dougie Smith call after Munira Mirza’s resignation:

Johnson called Crosby in a state of high agitation, as an ally recounts, telling him he was suspicious because it sounded ‘as if she was reading from a script’. Something didn’t feel right because she hadn’t expressed concerns earlier, he said. ‘Absolute crap about this Savile excuse: I don’t believe a word of it,’ said Johnson. Then he had a call from Smith. ‘We will back you if you stand down now, and if you do so, there is a chance that you will come back,’ Smith said, Johnson making a careful note of the pronoun ‘we’. ‘But if you don’t go now, we will destroy you. It will be death by a thousand cuts.’

Oliver Dowden resignation: 

For all his frustrations with Mirza, he mourned being abandoned by his moral compass. Far more, he realized how it would look. ‘Her departure was what really shook him up, he was totally thrown by that,’ says Dowden, who Johnson suspected was in cahoots with her, 

Sunak and Smith (Dowden is adamant that he was unaware Mirza would resign).

An exchange of texts followed [Dowden’s resignation], each man seeking to dial down. ‘If I had wanted to bring you down, I would have resigned over the confidence vote,’ Dowden wrote. ‘There is no plot, Prime Minister: Rishi doesn’t know that I am resigning.’ Johnson wasn’t convinced. ‘There’s a plot. Dougie is behind this,’ he muttered to himself.

Sunak team’s response:

‘They tried to compute to us some kind of Machiavellian or Mandelsonian deviousness,’ says one of the Sunak team. ‘It came from Dorries, Rees-Mogg, the Daily Mail editor Ted Verity and Johnson himself. The great betrayal thesis was pumped out every day. Liz Truss very clearly used it to help her.

The Impact
The book is not designed to be a hatchet job or a takedown. Nor is it designed to be an active political player. Most of Seldon’s books (seven of which in this series) have been released when the ex-prime minister had left politics. All have been fair and objective – the first accounts of history. But because Johnson has insisted on remaining a political player, the book will have an impact on the live political scene.

There is also still a narrative of adoration for Johnson and his presence in the party will be key for the future of the Conservatives. This book, however, should make everyone question whether a second Johnson premiership is best for the country. Regardless of the temporary narratives which dominate Westminster Johnson at 10 should be treated for what it is: a conclusive account of a historical premiership, a vital read for anyone who wants to understand the last three years of government and a definitive lesson in (as Robert Shrimsley said) ‘How not to be prime minister’.


The book is available at Waterstones, Amazon, Hive and Audible.

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