A “distraught” Boris Johnson declared “we’ve got no plan” when he realised Vote Leave would win the Brexit referendum, a new book claims.
Mr Johnson, who is widely credited with delivering the slim majority for Brexit, is said to have walked around his living room “looking ashen-faced and distraught”, muttering: “What the hell is happening? ... Oh s***, we’ve got no plan.
“We haven’t thought about it. I didn’t think it would happen. Holy c***, what will we do?”.
Anthony Seldon, who has written books on the Downing Street years of every British leader from Margaret Thatcher to David Cameron, has with Raymond Newell turned his pen on Mr Johnson.
The authors said Johnson at 10: The Inside Story, to be published by Atlantic Books on 4 May, draws on conversations with Westminster insiders and those close to arguably the most influential man in British politics for decades.
An extract published in The Times on Monday covers the hours and days after the Brexit victory.
George Osborne, Mr Cameron’s chancellor and a member of the Remain camp, is quoted as saying Mr Johnson’s approach to the referendum was “1,000 per cent cynical”.
“I think it was a straight calculation,” said Oliver Lewis, who was Mr Johnson’s Brexit adviser in No 10. “He reckoned it was win-win. ‘If I come out for Brexit and we lose, I position myself as a hero Eurosceptic, from which I can win the leadership at the next contest. If we win, then I’ll be clear favourite for prime minister.’”
One insider told the authors that the usually ebullient face of Mr Johnson was struck with guilt when he saw Samantha Cameron, wife of his old school friend and the then-prime minister, on television looking upset in the knowledge that her husband had been defeated.
“Oh my God. Look at Sam. God. Poor Sam,” he is quoted as having said.
The authors added: “Those who knew Johnson intimately say they had never seen him more frightened and dismayed than at this moment of triumph.”
Not long after dawn, Mr Johnson left his Islington home to travel to a Vote Leave victory event. The street outside was swarmed with protesters as he was driven towards Westminster.
“The crowds began banging angrily on the windows and roof. Boris looked terrified. He stared dead ahead, sensing that from this moment on, everything had changed,” an insider said.
The extract goes on to cover the Tory leadership race which followed Mr Cameron’s resignation, which saw a chance for Mr Johnson to realise his dream of being prime minister stamped out when his Vote Leave partner Michael Gove stood against him.
In launching his bid for the top job, Mr Gove, who had hours before been running Mr Johnson’s campaign for the leadership, told the public: “Boris cannot provide the leadership or build and unite the team in order to take this country forward.”
This made Mr Johnson cry, it is claimed. “It was one of the very few times I saw him in tears,” one of his colleagues told the authors.
A family member said the betrayal had personal ramifications far beyond Mr Johnson’s relationship with Mr Gove.
“He didn’t trust anyone again,” they said. “I don’t know if he ever quite trusted his old friends or even his family in the same way.”
Mr Johnson declined to comment on the claims when asked by The Independent.
In an earlier extract from the book, Mr Johnson is said to have referred to himself as “the fuhrer” and “the king” during his time in Downing Street.
