Boris Johnson’s ex-girlfriend Petronella Wyatt has opened up about why she has sympathy for the PM but predicted his premiership would turn sour, during an interview on Good Morning Britain.
The journalist, with whom Johnson cheated on his former wife Marina Wheeler while he was editor of The Spectator, appeared on the ITV morning programme to sit down with Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley and said Johnson is now in a “mess of his own making”.
She told the programme: “He’s very much a people pleaser, which leads to all sorts of problems in government, because he makes promises he can’t keep, he makes enemies of MPs.
“While you can do that in your personal life, it catches up with you in politics.”
While Petronella took issue with the question of whether Johnson is a liar, saying he “doesn’t intend to”, she admitted she thought Prime Minister was the “wrong job” for him.
“He hates confrontation. He hates rows. He doesn’t like telling people anything unpleasant. In politics you have to be more grown up about it and you have to grit your teeth in the way Margaret Thatcher did, in the way John Major, [Tony] Blair and even Theresa May," she said.
“His qualities are very endearing but they’re not necessarily the qualities of a great Prime Minister.”
She added: “I actually did predict it wouldn’t end well. The qualities that made him a very good journalist are not the qualities you need in a Prime Minister, because it’s a hard slog and he never liked detail.
“The other thing is I wouldn’t say he was lazy, but being PM does involve a 14 hour day, which isn’t really him. He gets bored with things quite quickly.”
The Good Morning Britain presenters asked what they make of the strength of feeling against him, in the wake of the vote of confidence vote earlier this week.
She said: “What it boils down to is winning the next election. Boris is now seen as a liability and I think it’s that more than anything else that is going to dog him.”
When Susanna asked if Boris can win the next election in charge Petronella said: “No. Absolutely not.”
Richard suggested that Petronella seems to “feel quite sorry for him”, which she agreed she does, adding: “He’s in a horrible position. He’s on the ropes.”
In terms of how well he takes failure, she simple replied “badly”’, adding: “It would be unhealthy if he took it well. It’s torture to fail and do it is public.”
Richard then asked: “If he does get booted out do you think actually perversely it will make him happier?”
Petronella replied: “In the long run yes, but in the short run no. I think his forte is in writing and the media. His life will quieten down.”
Petronella seemed reluctant to speak too expansively on her own relationship with Johnson, but said that people have the "wrong impression" of him, thinking he's a "hard man".
She said: "He's a bit of an enigma. He's surprisingly vulnerable. It's very hard not to be fond of him, because his instincts are basically decent, but he's very much his own worst enemy."
When asked by hosts Susanna and Richard if Boris “enjoyed the chaos he appears to be operating in”, Petronella said he does not.
She added: "First of all, he doesn’t enjoy when people dislike him or don’t have faith in the Johnson product, and secondly he only enjoys chaos when it’s of his own making and he can control it. He can’t control this.”
Richard asked: “Are you saying he’s thin skinned?”, to which Petronella replied: “Surprisingly thin skinned, surprisingly sensitive, easily upset by criticism or the thought that people dislike him. I think he has a very soft core - I think this will be absolute hell for him in private."
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.
