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THE ROAD TO NO. 10: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson with Carrie, the new inmates at Downing Street residence

Britain woke on Friday the 13th to a champagne breakfast in celebration of Boris Johnson’s magnificent triumph at Thursday’s elections as the British lion gave a resounding roar of approval to Boris and his Brexit campaign to quit the continent.

“Now no buts no ifs no maybes, we will get Brexit done”, declared the jubilant Boris at the end of his victory speech, “but before we get Brexit done, let’s first get breakfast done”.

It was the kind of riposte that has come to epitomise the character of Britain’s newly elected charismatic Prime Minister who uses humour and the brash retort to dilute his ruthless demeanor, the ruffled unkempt tufts of hair, to lessen British staidness and starch, concealing a razor sharp brilliant mind beneath the clothing of a clownish countenance.

In his first speech as the newly elected Prime Minister, moments after he had been told that the results had conclusively revealed that his party had won the hustings handsomely over the Jeremy Corbyn led Labour Party, Boris declared impishly, “you the people of this country voted to be carbon neutral in this election, you voted to be carbon neutral by 2050 and we’ll do it! You also voted to be Corbyn neutral by Christmas by the way, and we’ll do that too.”

Starting his speech robustly, he said: “I have a message for all those who voted for us yesterday, especially those who voted for us Conservatives, one nation Conservatives for the first time.”

“You may only have lent us your vote, you may not think of yourself as a natural Tory and as I think I said 11 years ago to the people of London when I was elected in what was thought of as a Labour city, your hand may have quivered over the ballot paper as before you put your cross in the Conservative box and you may have hoped to return to Labour next time around and if that is the case I am humbled that you would put your trust in me and that you would put your trust in us, and I and we will never take your support for granted.”

The man who campaigned on the Brexit platform and had vowed for years to take Britain out of the European Union vowed again to work night and day to keep his pledge to the nation declared:

“I will make it my mission to work night and day flat out to prove you right in voting for me this time and to earn your support in the future. And we will get Brexit done on time by the 31st of January, no ifs, no buts, no maybes, leaving the European Union as one United Kingdom, taking back control of our laws, borders, money, our trade, immigration system, delivering on the democratic mandate of the people.”

Furthermore, he stated that this One Nation Conservative Government will massively increase investment in the National Health Service. He said, the Health Service that represents the very best of the country is there for all – for the rich, the poor, the young and the old. He also listed the other priorities that the people voted for, for example record spending on schools, for an immigration policy based on an Australian star point system, more Police and Army, colossal new investments in infrastructure and science. He said, his government will use the incredible technological advances to make Britain the “cleanest, greenest country on earth”.

“You voted for all these things and it is now this government, this peoples’ government, it’s our solemn duty to deliver on each and every one of  those commitments and it is a great and heavy responsibility, a sacred trust for me.

Then he spoke of the necessity to recognise reality. “We cannot, must not let them down and in delivering change we must change too. We must recognise the incredible reality that we now speak as a One Nation Conservative party.”

And then nearing the climax of his speech he declared with great solemnity: “And as the nation hands us this historic mandate we must rise to the challenge and to the level of expectations and Parliament must change so that we in Parliament are working for you, the British people and that is what we will now do, isn’t it? That is what we will now do. Let’s go out and get on with it. Let’s unite this country, let’s spread opportunity to every corner of the UK with superb education, superb infrastructure and technology.”

FIRST WIFE: Allegra Mostyn-Owen. Married in 1987, separated in 1990. After reconciliation attempts failed, divorced in 1993

And then he couldn’t help giving the final Boris Johnson touch of declared will and determination coupled with a dash of humour. He said, “Let’s get Brexit done, but first my friends let’s get breakfast done.”

Wow. What a mouthful of pledges. By Boris’ own reckoning he has many miles to go and many promises to keep before he ends his first term of office. As news spread throughout Britain of his astounding victory, the question arose from many a tongue and from many a quarter: Who really is Boris Johnson? And the demand grew: ‘Will the real Boris Johnson, please stand up?’

Boris Johnson’s origins lie trapped in a colourful cosmopolitan kaleidoscope. His full name for the record is Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson and he was born on the 19th of June, 1965, not in Britain but 3,479 miles away from London across the Atlantic in New York City. He held dual nationality with the US but successfully renounced it in 2016 when US authorities demanded him to pay tax on a property he owned in Britain.

His family’s genealogical tree spans continents. His paternal great grandfather was a Circassian Turk named Ali Kemal. A journalist by profession, Ali Kemal came from the community of Circassians who had been displaced from their ancestral homelands due to the war between Russia and Circassia after which the Circassians had to seek refuge and settle down in Turkey, which was under the Ottoman Empire.

But that was not the only ancestry Boris could lay claim to. His father’s other ancestry holds English, German and French blood. One of Boris’ German ancestors is even said to be the illegitimate daughter of Prince Paul of Württemberg and thus is said to be a descendent of no other than King George II of Great Britain and this, believe it or not, would make Boris and the present Queen of England Elizabeth II sixth cousins twice removed.

Johnson’s mother is the granddaughter of Elias Avery Lowe, a palaeographer, who was a Russian Jewish immigrant to the US, and Pennsylvania-born Helen Tracy Lowe-Porter, a translator of Thomas Mann. No wonder with such a motley ancestry behind him to call his own Boris Johnson takes the mickey by calling himself ‘a one man melting pot’.

Boris’ father, Stanley Johnson was a former Conservative member of the European Parliament. Boris’ mother is the famous painter Charlotte Johnson Wahl. Stanley now 79, married his first wife Charlotte now aged 77, in 1963. During the sixteen years they spent together they had four children, the eldest being Boris.

SECOND WIFE Marina Wheeler. Married in 1992, separated last year. They have four children, two girls and two boys

Boris spent much of his childhood years in New York City and in Brussels before making his way to England’s famed public school Eton. From there on it was straight to Balliol Oxford. He also became the President of the Oxford Union.

Thereafter he tried his hand at journalism and in 1987 started out as a reporter for The Times. Two years later, he began working at The Telegraph where he was the correspondent covering the European Union. He then in 1994 became a political columnist for The Spectator magazine. In 1999, he was appointed its Editor and he served in the Editorial chair until 2005.

Often journalism and politics go hand in hand and perhaps this is the reason why in 1997 Johnson jumped into the political deep. He was chosen as the Conservative candidate for Clwyd South, but he lost badly to Labour. And he retired from the political arena to nurse his maiden defeat. But you can’t keep a good man down, nor deny him his craving for publicity now that he had been bitten by the political bug. He started appearing on a variety of television shows and began with the BBC talk show ‘Have I Got News For You.’ Later on he wrote his autobiography and titled it, ‘Have I Got Views For You’.

In 2001, he took another shot at politics. This time he contested and won the Henley-on-Thames constituency. With his regular appearances on television, which he continued, he soon became one of the most recognised politicians in the country. In 2005, when the General Elections were once more held, he won his seat again.

Then came 2007, the year that would define his future course. Labour’s Ken Livingstone also known as Red Ken held fort, kept court in the Mayoral office as His Worship the Mayor of London. This is the long held bastille that Boris Johnson decided to storm that year when the Mayoral elections came along.

On May 1st 2008, Johnson won a narrow victory. It may have been a marginal win but dislodging Labour’s Ken Livingstone from his Mayoral throne was no mean feat. Johnson repeated the exercise when elections were held again in 2012 beating Ken Livingstone again. Whilst pursuing his political career, Boris never turned his back on his love for writing. He was a prolific writer.

But now it was time to return to the national theatre, to Parliament which was the cynosure of all eyes. But Boris wanted to have the cake and eat it too. While holding on to his post as Mayor of London, he returned to Parliament in 2015 after winning the West London seat of Oxbridge and South Ruislip.

However, he decided not to contest the Mayoral election of 2016 and turned his full focus on Parliament. He became the leading spokesman for the Leave campaign which advocated that Britain should leave the European Union. This was when the British Prime Minister, the Tory Party Leader David Cameron had announced a national referendum be held on June 23rd 2016 for the people of Britain to decide whether they wished to remain as EU members.

52 percent of the British public voted to leave and Boris was widely perceived to be one of the main people, if not the main who had strongly influenced the nation’s verdict,

After Cameron’s resignation, Theresa May was elected by the Conservative Party and thus as Prime Minister, to lead the nation out of the European Union. When she failed to come up with an acceptable package, she decided to call for a snap election. She did not lose it but lost their legislative majority.

On March 27th 2019, Theresa May decided to quit. She’ll resign as Party Leader but will remain until her party has chosen another leader.

Boris Johnson stepped into fill the slot. On July 24th this year, Boris officially became Prime Minister. Frustrated, however, with his bid to deliver Brexit blocked by Parliament at every turn, he decided to call for a snap general election. The date December 12th 2019, the day he kept his tryst with Destiny.

Meanwhile, just before the election Boris did a spot of last minute shopping to grab a few extra votes. This time he set his eyes on the Tamil community. In a special message to them he said: “Vanakkam, I want to thank the Tamil community for everything they do for our country and I think that the values of the Tamil community and the contribution they make to the NHS, to the entrepreneurship in our country, the value they attach to education, educational achievement make a fantastic difference. And that’s why we need to get Brexit done.”

“Once we get Brexit done we can be fair in our immigration policy and put in the points-based Australian style system that will treat everybody equally for the purposes of coming to the UK. So thanks to the Tamil community and I just want to say that I hope very much that there will be a reconciliation in Sri Lanka, accountability for what has gone before us, what’s happened in the past and long term peace in Sri Lanka. Nandri”.

Though his political career has centered around Brexit, Brexit, Brexit and nothing but Brexit, Boris has steadfastly refused to let a singular subject dominate his personal life, bearing in mind that all work and no play will make Bohemian Boris a dull boy.

Close friends have described him as possessing an abundance of wit, charm, brilliance and startling flashes of instability. In 2017, Johnson said he had smoked cannabis before he went to University, he had also said he had used cocaine.

Born and baptised a catholic, now a confirmed Church of England Christian Boris in 1987 married Allegra Mostyn –Owen. They divorced in 1993.

Twelve days later, Boris married Marina Wheeler, a Barrister at Law. Many a society eyebrow was raised five weeks later when Marina gave birth to their first child.

The two families have known each other for decades and Marina was at the European School in Brussels at the same time her future husband was. They have four children, two daughters, and two sons.

However, between 2000 and 2004, the third party came in to form a love triangle. It was with a Spectator columnist the news of the world alleged in 2006 that Johnson was having an affair with a Guardian journalist called Anna, the couple refused to comment on the allegation.

In 2009, it was reported that Johnson had fathered a daughter with art critic Helen Macintyre. In 2013, an injunction seeking to ban reporting of his daughter’s existence was quashed by the Court of Appeal. The Judge said the public had a right to know of Johnston’s reckless behaviour. Last year in September, Boris and Marina issued a statement confirming that after 25 years of marriage they were parting.

In 2019, Johnson was living with Carrie Symonds, the daughter of the co-founder of the Independent Newspaper. She has now moved in as his live in lover in the Prime Ministerial residence at No.10, Downing Street.

Twice loser Corbyn set  to resign as Labour leader CORBYN: To step down Britain’s Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn gave up the ghost on election night when he saw defeat writ large on the wall even before the final results of the British General Election had trickled in. He immediately announced his intention not to lead the Labour party at any future election but after a time of reflection to resign as its leader. Corbyn was born in 1949 and he is of the same vintage as Lanka’s UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, all 70. Unlike UNP’s Ranil Wickremesinghe who was appointed Leader of the party in 1994, Jeremy Corbyn was elected Labour Leader only four years ago in 2015. In 2017, just two years after taking the reins of his party, Conservative Leader Prime Minister Theresa May called for a general election. Though Corbyn’s Labour party did not win the election it dramatically increased its voter base and knocked off the legislative majority that the Conservatives had. Today after losing only his second election, Corbyn has decided to step down and hang his hat in the best of British gentlemanly traditions. He knows there is no place for leaders who lose elections in the cut throat world of politics.

CROWNING GLORY: Caroline crowned Mrs. World Sweet Caroline, good looks never ever seemed so blestWorld jury judges Lankan girl on beauty  and returns unanimous verdict of guilty Unwavering faith in her divine God coupled with steadfast prayer in her devout heart moved heaven and mount for Caroline Jurie to realise her impossible dream when she was crowned Mrs. World at a glittering ceremony held in Las Vegas last Friday. The international jury of celebrities lost no time in finding the 27 year old married Lankan guilty as charged on all counts of being the most ‘deliciously delectable’ after she appeared in a beauty parade with 51 other married women on the fashion runway at West Coast, Las Vegas Resort and Casino. Moments after the one year sentence of having to wear the Crown was carried out by the outgoing Mrs. World, Caroline Jurie fought back the tears, looked above and said a silent prayer and went into a swoon in disbelief to find that she had just been crowned the most beautiful married woman. Earlier in the contest in the run up to the finals, she had been asked what she would do if she were crowned Mrs. World and she had replied in her own words, “I want the Judges to know that in my childhood I struggled with depression and I tried to kill myself. As Mrs. Sri Lanka I opened my own campaign called ‘Be You’. I teach children to be yourself no matter what. As well ‘Be You’ teach the parents also to encourage them and support them so those children can be the best of the best. If I be Mrs. World, I will be able to continue my ‘Be You’ campaign to the worldwide to help the children who are suffering from hate and depression.” In the early hours of Tuesday, the new Mrs. World returned home to Lanka at 2.45 am but she did not step out from the Katunayake Airport till 7.00 am. She had to wait till light had broken and the roads filled with people for the grand plan was to travel to Colombo in a convoy of vehicles with her peering out of the sunroof, waving her hands to those who had lined the streets to see her. There was a brief pit stop to felicitate her in her hometown of Kandana and after that the convoy headed to Colombo for her to attend the press conference. Flanked by her husband and her fashion designer, she began her press conference by saying: “First of all, I must thank my God, it is because of him that all of this happened. Without him I wouldn’t have achieved my dream.” “I must thank everyone who had helped me, but I must say I did all this alone there was no one for me. But luckily for me people who love me came to my aid. It was only at the last minute that I was able to find a sponsor. Because I had never walked on a catwalk before, I had to learn from scratch and thankful to Chula who trained me in that.” “I must also say that the American Embassy refused my visa twice and I only got the visa two days after the contest had begun. As I told the people there, as Mrs. World what I want to do is to help children who suffer from hate and depression, I know that because I myself had suffered hate and depression and I think children would be more willing to listen to me when they know that I am also a past sufferer and I am today Mrs. World.” “I must thank my mother-in-law, she is the one who encouraged me at every turn to participate in this contest. She knew how much I wanted to and told my husband to let me participate. But I must say it has been a struggle since then because I had to do everything alone and I thank my God for being there for me and helping me to achieve what I achieved. Without Him I would be no where” Take a bow Caroline, you made Lanka proud.