S&S lands Gimson's 'vivid' Boris Johnson biography

Simon & Schuster (S&S) has snapped up political journalist Andrew Gimson’s biography of outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson.

Ian Marshall, deputy publishing director, acquired UK and Commonwealth volume rights to Boris Johnson: The Rise and Fall of a Troublemaker at Number 10 from Andrew Gordon at David Higham Associates, and will publish in hardback on 29th September 2022.

"In Boris Johnson: The Rise and Fall of a Troublemaker at Number 10, Gimson sets out to discover how a man dismissed as a liar, charlatan and tasteless joke was able, despite being written off more frequently than any other British politician of the 21st-century, to become prime minister," the synopsis reads. "During his ascent, Johnson benefitted from being regarded as a clown, for this meant his opponents failed to take him seriously, while his supporters delighted in his ability to shock and enrage ’the establishment’. 

"He even changed the language of politics; a new word, ‘cakeism’, entered the English lexicon to describe his implausible but seductive claim during the Brexit negotiations that it was possible to have one’s cake and eat it.

"In a series of brilliant vignettes, Gimson sheds light on the parts played by sex, greed, boredom and low seriousness in Johnson’s rise and fall, describes how Partygate fatally imperilled his prime ministership, and places him in a line of Tory adventurers stretching back to Benjamin Disraeli: disreputable figures who often blew themselves up, but also displayed an astonishing ability to connect with the British public."

Marshall said: "There is no one better placed to tell the full, inside story of Boris Johnson’s time as prime minister than Andrew Gimson. His new biography is packed with vivid insights and entertaining snapshots. Andrew not only shows how Johnson’s unique attributes helped him to get to the top, he also explains how some of those same traits sowed the seeds for his eventual downfall."

Published by S&S, Gimson’s previous biography of the prime minister, Boris, first appeared in 2006 and was reissued and updated on numerous occasions. He is also the author of Gimson’s Kings and Queens, Gimson’s Prime Ministers and Gimson’s Presidents.

"I am delighted to continue a partnership with Simon & Schuster which began when I started work in 2004 on my first volume about Johnson," he said. "He has never ceased to provide the most vivid and implausible materials for history. No prime minister in recent times has so often provoked laughter, incomprehension, incredulity, scorn and rage."