Profile: Boris Johnson wins majority in UK election

LONDON

Boris Johnson made a decisive victory in the U.K.’s election, putting the country on course of leaving the European Union.

Born Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson in New York City on June 19, 1964, Johnson spent most of his childhood in New York and Brussels. He studied in Elton College and then in Balliol College in Oxford, England.

He started s journalism career, working as a reporter for the British daily The Times in 1987. After being fired for fabricating quotation, he worked for The Daily Telegraph and The Spectator magazine from 1989 to 2005.

Johnson’s political career did not start with a victory when he was a Conservative candidate in Clwyd South and lost to Labour candidate in 1997 general election.

He started appearing in a series of TV shows until 2001, when he was elected as an MP for the House of Commons for Henley-on-Thames constituency.

His political career had its ups and downs. He was forced to apologize to the city of Liverpool because of an insensitive editorial, which was published in 2004. He was dismissed from his position as shadow arts minister after rumors surfaced of an affair with a journalist.

He was re-elected as an MP in 2005 but later on he was elected as the mayor of London. He served as the mayor of the British capital from 2008 to 2016.

Johnson returned to the House of Commons in 2015 after winning the election in Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency.

Leading spokesman for Leave campaign

Johnson became the leading spokesman for the Leave campaign in the run-up to EU referendum held in June 2016 -- in which the British voters decided to leave the bloc -- running an opposite campaign to Tory leader David Cameron who campaigned to “Remain”.

After Cameron’s resignation following the referendum result, Johnson was believed that he was to announce his candidacy to run the Tories, however, he did not.

After becoming the party leader and the new prime minister, Theresa May appointed Jonson as foreign secretary. He remained in this post after the 2017 snap election and later May lost the legislative majority in the House.

In July 2018, Johnson resigned from the Cabinet over strong disagreement with May over her Brexit deal she reached with the EU officials.

May eventually was forced by her party dynamics to resign as party leader. She resigned on June 7, 2019, opening the way for Johnson to become the party’s and the U.K.’s new leader.

Johnson, as the new Tory leader, managed to reach a revised Brexit deal with the EU before calling a general election after failing to legislate that deal due to opposition from the parliament, before the deadline of Oct. 31

Johnson won the election held on Dec. 12, and his Conservative Party won a majority in the House of Commons.

Johnson is the great-grandson of Ali Kemal, an Ottoman journalist and politician who served as the interior minister in Damat Ferid Pasha government in the first quarter of the 20th century.

Johnson has often been accused of playing into the hands of anti-Muslim circles.

In an article he wrote during his term as foreign secretary, Johnson described Muslim women wearing burkas as “bank robbers” and “letter boxes”, attracting great anger and condemnation from Muslim minority.

He has received harsh criticism also for not launching an investigation over alleged Islamophobia within his party.