(EXCLUSIVE) Boris Johnson: "They Were Looking at Engineering The Virus" And The Government Tried To Bribe Me! episode artwork

EPISODE · Oct 10, 2024 · 1H 53M

(EXCLUSIVE) Boris Johnson: "They Were Looking at Engineering The Virus" And The Government Tried To Bribe Me!

from The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett · host The Experience Plus

He was the 55th Prime Minister, led through 3 of the biggest crises of the last century, and is one of the most controversial characters in the history of the United Kingdom. Boris Johnson is now ‘unleashed’. Boris Johnson is the former UK Prime Minister, serving from 2019 to 2022, he has also served as Foreign Secretary and Mayor of London. He is also the author of books such as, ‘The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History’ and ‘Unleashed’.In this conversation, Boris and Steven discuss topics such as, his support for the Leave campaign without an exit plan, why he doesn't apologise for Partygate, his initial under appreciation of Covid's danger, and his predictions for the upcoming US election. (00:00) Intro(02:25) What Do We Need To Understand About Your Early Years(04:52) Glue Ear Making You Deaf(05:47) Your Mother Charlotte(08:27) Why Was Your Mother Sent To A Psychiatric Ward(11:18) Why Did Your Mother Say You Were "Self Defending"(13:13) Why Did Your Parents Divorce?(14:42) Was There Physical Violence In The Household?(15:29) What Did Your Parents Teach You About Marriage And Love(18:04) Is Your Public Persona A Marketing Strategy?(24:36) The Imbalance Of The UK's Class System(28:25) Has The Conservative Government Done Enough To Level The UK?(38:30) Boris' Career Rundown(39:00) Did You Expect To Win The London Mayorship?(41:25) You Had 3 Significant Country Events, Do You Wish It Was Different?(43:06) Did You Think You Were Going To Win The Brexit Vote?(45:18) Your Secret Pro-Remain Letter(49:22) You Had No Plan After Brexit(59:41) Did David Cameron React Badly When You Said You Were Going To Leave?(01:01:33) How Does Someone Get A High-Level Job Without Having Done It Before?(01:03:39) If You're In Politics, You Need To Be Okay With Public Attacks(01:05:10) Is Politics All About Bringing Your Friends Up With You?(01:06:39) Do You Regret Brexit?(01:09:53) What Have The Downsides Of Brexit Been?(01:13:45) When Was The First Time You Heard About This Virus?(01:18:13) When Did You Call China To Address Covid(01:19:35) The Virus Was Actually Created In A Lab(01:20:37) Call Trump To Talk About Covid(01:21:29) Lockdowns(01:27:18) Were The Lockdowns Even Worth It(01:28:52) The Tiering System Was Bonkers(01:30:46) Was There A Mental Toll On You?(01:32:31) The Impact Of The Death Of Your Mother(01:36:30) Party Gate(01:47:13) How Many Children Do You Have?(01:47:37) Charlotte Owen(01:47:47) What Happens Next For Boris JohnsonFollow Boris: Instagram - https://g2ul0.app.link/GZMiyeVzyNb Twitter - https://g2ul0.app.link/eQ5qEsXzyNb You can purchase Boris’ book, ‘Unleashed’, here: https://g2ul0.app.link/C9fcSpmAyNb Watch the episodes on Youtube - https://g2ul0.app.link/DOACEpisodes My new book! 'The 33 Laws Of Business & Life' is out now - https://g2ul0.app.link/DOACBook You can purchase the The Diary Of A CEO Conversation Cards: Second Edition, here: https://g2ul0.app.link/f31dsUttKKb Follow me:https://g2ul0.app.link/gnGqL4IsKKb Sponsors:PerfectTed - https://www.perfectted.com with code DIARY40 for 40% offColgate - https://www.colgate.com/en-gb/colgate-totalLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theexperienceplus.substack.com

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(EXCLUSIVE) Boris Johnson: "They Were Looking at Engineering The Virus" And The Government Tried To Bribe Me!

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TRANSCRIPT · AUTO-GENERATED

Do you really think I was deliberately partying and breaking the rules? It's all about leaving by example. Oh, sorry, but to say it was a party is a complete travesty. Seeing that photo when one of my friends can't go to their grandmother's funeral is the most enraging thing.

I think all gatherings should have been banned at number 10 because I think gatherings with alcohol and music and cake. You should never have allowed that to happen. I apologize for that. My job's out.

The former prime minister of the UK who's really included Brexit, Covid and the Ukraine war. He's one of the world's most famous politicians. On this point of Brexit, how did David Cameron react when you said you're going to vote leave? He said if you come out and support leave, I will fuck you up forever.

If his support remains, you can have a top five job on the camera. But is that not a bit corrupt? And is that how the jobs are dished out in the government at the moment? Look, I'm sad to say that it's probably been the way politics have been since all the time.

And then this letter you wrote about a decision to leave will stay within the EU, which was unpublished. You seemed torn. So do you regret Brexit? Well, the next big thing was the pandemic.

There was another stuff we didn't know. And I think it was a lab accident. They were looking at endearing viruses over places that they could manipulate it. Sadly, something went wrong.

When you talk about lockdowns, you refer to Ms Bonkers, which is strange hearing it from the guy that put the rules in place. Well, did the benefits of lockdown outweigh the very, very severe damage done to kids? What do you think? Honestly, I think...

I just wanted to ask a few mistakes. Trump or Kamali, who's the best for international relations? How many kids do you have? Charlotte Owen, you're not related, Terry.

And then you have quite distinct the story of people who described you as being the food. My father saw you. I thought you were a parody from Bo Selector. Is it calculated?

Well, to get people interested in politics. You've got to sugar the pill. But also, your mother said you had certain mechanisms to cope with pain. Because your mother is sent to a psychiatric facility when you were 10.

I read there was physical violence in the house. And then at 14, your parents get divorced. Yes, we were in Salerset. My father killed us.

And I was the kind of his cross. And so, so, why did you have us then? Okay. Boris, what do I need to understand about your earliest years to understand the man that you are today?

I think the key thing is my wonderful, happy, very kind of peregrinating childhood in the company of my siblings. The key fact was that after 18 months of existence, my sister Rachel was born. And ever after, it was just a constant struggle to keep the pretense of privacy with my siblings. But I think it is probably true to say that healthy, incessant sibling interaction, competition, whatever you want to call it, rivalry, definitely played a part in my formation.

And we used to make fun of it, too. We used to think it was rather pathetic. We all knew that there was a culture of trying to win. So we used to say, oh, little baby wants to win.

And so we were kind of, we competed, but we also deprecated the competition. At that age, say before the age of 10, how does that manifest in terms of a feeling? Because you can, in hindsight, say a girl was competitive, but how did it feel? It felt like fun.

But this idea that Rachel came along and you were vying for attention and competition with her. How does that feel when you're under the age of 10? Because your father, at least, was very, very busy as a man. So I'm presuming he wasn't necessarily so present.

He moved house 32 times in 14 years. Okay, I mean, he was, but really, I think I speak for all of my siblings now, and I say that you really couldn't have had more loving, caring. They did both of them. They're both very busy.

My mother was a painter. My father, yeah, writer, did a huge number of things. But they did invest a lot of time in us. I mean, really a lot.

It sounded like you had Russell the first 10 years of life because you also had gluier, which made you deaf. Yes, well, I don't know. I think we need to look very carefully at the, I definitely had adenoids and I had tonsillitis. I spent a lot of time in St.

Bart's and now my adenoids and my tonsillitis and everything like that. And I did have gluier. But my deafness, there's no trace of it now particularly. And I kind of wonder whether it was in fact a coming means to avoid my mother's questions.

And I think, look, I mean, I don't know. It may be that I wasn't as deaf as all that. So I mean, I'm going to give you a little more. ¿Te está gustando este episodio?

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This episode was published on October 10, 2024.

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He was the 55th Prime Minister, led through 3 of the biggest crises of the last century, and is one of the most controversial characters in the history of the United Kingdom. Boris Johnson is now ‘unleashed’. Boris Johnson is the former UK Prime...

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