Covid, canal raids and May's nostrils: six key points to remember from Boris Johnson's memoirs | Boris Johnson

P.staging military incursions into the Netherlands, comparing himself to the ancient Greeks and comparing Keir Starmer to castrated bulls: the serial publication of Boris Johnson's forthcoming memoirs characteristically began this weekend.

Excerpts from Unleashed, which will be released on October 10, have been published in the daily mail Friday and Saturday, and the Mail on Sunday is expected to reveal more.

Here are six key points to remember:

1. His fight against Covid

After testing positive for coronavirus at the start of the pandemic in 2020, it was the story of Athens that came to the former prime minister's mind.

Pericles died of the plague, Johnson recalled telling Michael Gove, referring to the plague of Athens in 430 BC which killed up to a third of the population. Hearing this, Johnson said his Cabinet minister's glasses seemed to glow at the thought, like the penguin in Wallace and Gromit.

As the UK death toll approaches 1,000, Johnson describes his declining health as he was struck down by the virus, ultimately landing him in intensive care at St Thomas' Hospital in April 2020 He remembers going from optimistic and rubicund to having a face the color of mayonnaise in a matter of days.

Even his dog, Dilyn, appeared to succumb to Covid, Johnson writes, while recovering at Checkers, the 16th-century manor house in the Chiltern Hills. After a few hundred meters, he stood there, limp, his tongue hanging out, he said of his Jack Russell cross.

2. The Dutch raid on the canal

Johnson also recalls how, at the height of the pandemic in March 2021, he considered invading the Netherlands to seize vaccines.

He said he discussed taking the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was the subject of a cross-Channel export dispute at the time, with senior military officials. They plotted to send one team on a commercial flight to Amsterdam, while another team would use the cover of darkness to cross the English Channel on rigid inflatable boats and navigate the canals, he writes.

I must warn you, Mr. Prime Minister, that it will not be possible to do this without detection, Johnson recalled being told to him by Lt. Gen. Doug Chalmers, then deputy chief of staff of the defense (military and operational strategy). Well, Prime Minister, Chalmers told Johnson, if we are detected we will have to explain why we are invading a long-time NATO ally.

Johnson writes: I secretly agreed with what they were all thinking but didn't want to say it out loud: that it was all crazy.

3. Theresa May and Penny Mordaunt

Johnson talks about his fond feelings for his predecessor, Theresa May, and reflects on his meetings with former equalities minister, Penny Mordaunt.

He describes how he would appreciate May's self-satisfaction and how she would roll her eyes when he spoke. But it was her long, pointy black nostrils, Johnson said, that he focused on most: like a Gerald Scarfe cartoon, and the way she twisted her nose, as if to show them off.

As for Mordaunt, he draws parallels with her views on transgender rights, writing: Was she still a Remainer, wrapped in Brexiteer clothing, or had she surgically altered her beliefs? Was she some sort of transvestite and could she go back? I started to worry.

4. His Partygate regrets

In 2022, Johnson became the first Prime Minister to receive criminal sanction while in office for a surprise meeting for Johnson's birthday. Downing Street previously admitted that staff met briefly in the cabinet room.

In his memoirs, he denies eating cake to the weakest event in the history of human festivities.

He writes: I stood briefly in my place in the Cabinet room, where I have meetings throughout the day, while the Chancellor and various staff said happy birthday, I saw no cake . I didn't eat any flower cakes.

A subsequent investigation into Partygate was led by former senior official Sue Gray. Johnson notes that she is now Keir Starmer's chief of staff and was his number one political enemy at the time. He states that he continues to believe that all events took place according to the rules.

In a short list of his catastrophic errors in handling the political scandal, Johnson cites among them regrets over a ridiculous and unfair witch hunt led by a senior civil servant, Sue Gray, and failing to realize my old friend Dom Cummings. [was] behind all that.

Gray's investigation found that neither Johnson nor Sunak knew about the event in advance.

5. Never mind the beef, here comes Keir Starmer

Johnson pulls no punches when describing Keir Starmer, saying his irritable face during a debate in the House of Commons was like an ox having a thermometer thrust unexpectedly up its rectum.

The line refers to a June 2020 debate, when the two leaders clashed over questions from the prime minister regarding the delay in fully reopening schools. Johnson says Starmer was in no position to say schools were safe because that would go against his masters in the teaching unions.

A great ox stood on his tongue, he told the speaker.

6. His plea to Prince Harry

Johnson describes how he I tried to stop Megxit Prince Harry left the United Kingdom when he gave up being a working royal and moved to California via Vancouver with his wife, Meghan.

He badgered the prince for a manly pep talk at a UK-Africa investment summit in January 2020. The meeting lasted 20 minutes, but Johnson admits it was futile, since Harry left for Canada the next day.

Johnson recalled: There was a ridiculous affair when they made me try to persuade Harry to stay. Kind of a manly pep talk. Totally hopeless.