![]() ![]() Johnson’s “end was in his beginning”, he argues. Martin Hammond’s infamous notes on Johnson at Eton, which recorded his “disgracefully cavalier attitude”, his “gross failure of responsibility” and his deep-seated belief that he “should be free of the network of obligation that binds everyone else” is the opening source of Seldon’s account. ![]() There is a telling coincidence in the fact that the first indelible report of Johnson’s behaviour was also the work of a school master. ![]() Though he employs the same quasi-legal model for his inquiry here, gathering careful evidence, weighing judgments, the story he pieces together is often one of venal mayhem it frequently reads like a considered constitutional appraisal of rats in a sack. In previous volumes the author has assumed a base level of gravitas in his subjects, and of structure in their government. ![]() The latest, on Boris Johnson, based on the accounts of more than 200 people who witnessed his catastrophic, clown-car time in office first-hand, is a test not only of Seldon’s method, but also his tone. S ir Anthony Seldon, the famous headteacher, has been writing book-length report cards on British prime ministers for 40 years. ![]()
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