In the 1883 children's fantasy novel The Adventures of Pinocchio, a puppet brought to life by magic, ‘inherited’ a curse—if he were to lie, his nose would magically grow. Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson has no magical nose, but he has been feeling the burden of a 'curse' triggered by lying. The former prime minister’s downfall boils down to one reason. Lies.
During his term, Johnson appointed Chris Pincher as the Conservative Party's deputy chief whip. Johnson, however, claimed he was not aware of allegations of sexual misconduct against Pincher. It all started with a specific allegation, where Lord Simon McDonald, a former UK diplomat claimed that Johnson knew about Pincher's predatory behaviour. The scandal spread like wildfire, leading to high-profile resignations in Johnson's cabinet—then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, and health secretary, Sajid Javid. To add insult to injury, 40 per cent of Tory MPs voted against Johnson, further risking Johnson's position.
Another major blow came during the Covid-19 pandemic. As a part of "health and safety” reasoning, Johnson disallowed the public to visit their deceased family members, creating hate and frustration among the British community. As Johnson's unpopularity grew, a decision to initiate a ‘by-election,’ also known as a special election was taken. The results of the by-election, won by Labour in the north of England, and by the Liberal Democrats in the south, shed light on the public's view of Johnson. A string of sexual harassment allegations also further emerged against Pincher.
The ‘Partygate’ scandal, where Johnson threw and attended multiple Christmas parties during the Covid-19 pandemic when gatherings were forbidden, exasperated the public and led to further unpopular opinion. He then denied these allegations, calling them “rubbish.” To make matters worse, instead of accepting that he is in fact a ‘party horse,’ Johnson decided to make changes to the “ministerial code” to help cover his footprints.
All this and more finally led to the Conservative leader resigning as PM in July 2022, and almost a year later, he quit as member of parliament after a committee probing the ‘Partygate’ scandal found that he had misled Parliament.