Petronella Wyatt had a four-year relationship with Johnson while he was editor of the Spectator
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. 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.”
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.”
Petronella Wyatt was, of course, the subject of many of BJ’s lies and eventually they caught up with him:
Their affair lasted for four years, while he was married to Marina Wheeler, making the headlines in 2004 after Wyatt’s mother found out about it and reported it to the press.
In the wake of the scandal, Johnson lost his job and was sacked from his positions as MP for Henley and Conservative vice-chairman by then leader Michael Howard.
Tory officials stated that his sacking was a matter of “personal morality”, as Johnson had lied about the affair to the party.
If you really had to post it, why couldn’t it have gone in your ‘Boris doing Badly’ thread?
Why designate a whole new thread to one catty remark is what Bread and I asked you?
And Omah saying I didn’t have to contribute is quite right, but it’s the thrill and overwhelming excitement of yet ANOTHER Boris bashing thread that gets to me.
Sour grapes if you ask me.
