10 revelations from Boris Johnson's memoir Unleashed

Yahoo News UK takes a look at some of the noteworthy disclosures so far from the former prime minister's book.

TOPSHOT - Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson reacts during a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (unseen) following a meeting at the NATO headquartes in Brussels, on February 10, 2022. (Photo by Daniel LEAL / POOL / AFP) (Photo by DANIEL LEAL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Boris Johnson's memoir is released on Thursday. (Getty Images)

Boris Johnson's new book, Unleashed, will be released on Thursday.

The memoir has been long-awaited: in January last year, his register of interests revealed he had received a £510,000 advance, well above the £7,674 his successor Liz Truss received for her book 10 Years To Save The West.

And the extracts which have emerged so far have already created a lot of noise. Here, Yahoo News UK breaks down 10 revelations from Johnson's book.

Read more: Everything critics have said about Unleashed (Yahoo News UK)

Boris Johnson at a Downing Street gathering in November 2020, when COVID rules were in place. (PA)
Boris Johnson at a Downing Street gathering in November 2020, when COVID rules were in place. (PA)

Johnson retracted his apology for the so-called partygate scandal that contributed to his political downfall.

He wrote he made a “mistake” in offering “a series of rather pathetic apologies, even when I knew zero about the events for which I was apologising. My grovelling just made people angrier.”

The lockdown-era gatherings in Downing Street sparked a public outcry and dealt a major blow to his premiership.

TOPSHOT - Former British prime minister Boris Johnson addresses Conservative Party supporters at the National Army Museum in London on July 2, 2024 as part of a campaign event in the build-up to the UK general election on July 4. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP) (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images)
Boris Johnson addresses Conservative Party supporters two days before the general election this year. (AFP via Getty Images)

When Johnson announced he would resign as PM in July 2022, he lamented the "eccentric" decision by cabinet colleagues and MPs to force him out.

Two years later, the Tory party under Rishi Sunak suffered the worst electoral loss in its history.

And even amid the series of scandals that brought down his government, Johnson insisted he would have beaten Sir Keir Starmer's Labour if he had stayed on.

He wrote: “So yes: if you ask me the counterfactual question, would I have won again if the Tories had kept me on, the answer is yes, absolutely.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) arrives in 10 Downing Street for talks with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson (L) on 05 September 2019 in London, England. The meeting is set to focus on discussing tensions in the Middle East and Iran's influence in the region. (Photo by WIktor Szymanowicz/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Boris Johnson with Benjamin Netanyahu in Downing Street in September 2019. (Getty Images)

A bugging device was found in Johnson’s bathroom after a visit by Benjamin Netanyahu when he was foreign secretary, the former prime minister claimed.

Johnson alleged his security team had made the discovery when it did a sweep of the toilets after the Israeli premier had used them during a meeting in 2017.

Writing in his memoir, Johnson said Netanyahu had excused himself during talks at his old office to use the washroom, described as “a secret annex… a bit like the gents in a posh London club".

“Thither Bibi repaired for a while, and it may or may not be a coincidence but I am told that later, when they were doing a regular sweep for bugs, they found a listening device in the thunderbox."

It is unclear whether the Israeli government was confronted about the incident. The Israeli embassy in London was contacted for comment.

In 2021, amid claims EU regulations were holding up the export of AstraZeneca COVID vaccines to the UK, Johnson said he discussed plans for a possible incursion into Dutch territory with British military officials.

This would have reportedly seen troops use inflatable boats to navigate the Dutch canal network to infiltrate the target warehouse. Johnson wrote: “They would then rendezvous at the ­target; enter; secure the ­hostage goods, exfiltrate using an articulated lorry, and make their way to the Channel ports."

However, ministers from Johnson’s government have reportedly cast doubt on the claims, with some even suggesting he may have made a joke about such an operation simply so he could later include it in his memoirs.

TOPSHOT - Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson (L) shakes hands as he poses with French President Emmanuel Macron during a bi-lateral meeting on the sidelines of a European Union Summit at European Union Headquarters in Brussels on October 17, 2019. (Photo by JOHANNA GERON / various sources / AFP) (Photo by JOHANNA GERON/POOL/AFP/AFP via Getty Images)
Boris Johnson shakes hands with Emmanuel Macron at an EU summit in October 2019. (AFP via Getty Images)

Johnson claims it is "at least possible" that French president Emmanuel Macron allowed sea crossings by migrants to continue to “drive the British public nuts”.

He suggested his cross-Channel counterpart was "weaponising" the issue as part of a campaign to undermine Brexit border controls.

Despite this, however, Macron also reportedly turned down plans for a new road link between England and France, with Johnson claiming he was "appalled at the idea of all those rapacious Brits" crossing over.

Secretary of State for Education Gavin Williamson in his office at the Department of Education in Westminster, London, following the announcement that A-level and GCSE results in England will now be based on teachers' assessments of their students, unless the grades produced by the controversial algorithm are higher. (Photo by Stefan Rousseau/PA Images via Getty Images)
Gavin Williamson served in Johnson's government. (PA Images via Getty Images)

Johnson said Sir Gavin Williamson blocked a £400m deal to bring Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe home from Iran five years before she was released, on the basis the money could be used by Hezbollah.

He claimed that in 2017, when he was foreign secretary in Theresa May's government, he reached an agreement paving the way for the UK national’s release, in return for money owed by Britain to Tehran since the 1970s.

The Treasury and the Foreign Office approved, but Number 10 insisted the decision needed to be signed off by all relevant departments, including the Ministry of Defence.

Williamson, then defence secretary, refused to sanction the deal, suggesting some of the £400m could end up in the hands of Hezbollah and be used to buy weapons and “kill our boys”, Johnson alleged.

“While Nazanin languished in Iranian captivity, with many blaming me, there were quite a few people who were savouring my moral torment – not least, I suspect, in Number 10.”

Williamson was contacted for comment. Johnson himself has been accused of lengthening her ordeal when, as foreign secretary, he wrongly claimed she had been training journalists at the time of her arrest in 2016.

LONDON - SEPTEMBER 27:  Conservative Party MP Boris Johnson and Conservative Party leader David Cameron speak to media after the a Conservative Party announcement regarding their London mayoral candidate on September 27, 2007 in London, England. The British Conservative Party today announced the selection of Boris Johnson as the Tory candidate for the 2008 mayoral contest.  (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)
David Cameron campaigning with Boris Johnson in 2007. (Getty Images)

Lord David Cameron, the PM at the time of the Brexit referendum, threatened to derail Johnson's career if he didn't endorse Remain, Johnson claimed.

According to the new book, the then-Tory leader, who was riding high after his 2015 general election victory, promised Johnson during a tennis match a top cabinet job in exchange for his support.

In a later phone call, however, when Johnson said he was considering backing Leave, Cameron told him "I will f*** you up forever" if he did. A spokesman for Cameron declined to comment.

Outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson is greeted by the Queen Elizabeth II's Equerry Lieutenant Colonel Tom White and her private Secretary Sir Edward Young as he arrives at Balmoral for an audience to formally resign as Prime Minister on September 6, 2022. - Outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday vowed to support his successor Liz Truss
Boris Johnson arrives at Balmoral to formally resign as prime minister on 6 September, 2022. (AFP via Getty Images)

Queen Elizabeth II died just days after Johnson resigned as PM. In his book, Johnson claims to have known “for a year or more that she "had a form of bone cancer”.

Prior to his own final visit to royal residence Balmoral Castle, in Scotland, on the day of his resignation on 6 September, 2022, he was reportedly told she had “gone down quite a bit over the summer”, but that her mind remained “completely unimpaired by her illness".

In another meeting in 2021, less than a year before her death, Johnson admitted he did not know an RAF F-35 fighter jet had fallen off an aircraft carrier until he was told about it by the Queen.

TOPSHOT - Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (L) talks with Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a bilteral meeting at the UK-Africa Investment Summit in London on January 20, 2020. (Photo by Stefan Rousseau / POOL / AFP) (Photo by STEFAN ROUSSEAU/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
The Duke of Sussex with Boris Johnson at the conference in January 2020, shortly after Harry and Meghan announced they would step back from royal duties. (AFP via Getty Images)

Among several accounts of his interactions with the Royal Family is Johnson’s claim that Buckingham Palace requested he persuade Prince Harry to stay in Britain.

The subsequent “manly pep talk” reportedly took place at a UK-Africa investment conference shortly before the prince flew to Canada to join his wife Meghan.

However, while it is understood the meeting did take place, sources have claimed it was not requested by the Royal Family or its officials.

The resignation of then-chancellor Rishi Sunak in July 2022 is widely seen as the moment when it became clear Johnson would no longer be able to remain as PM.

Despite previously considering Sunak a "friend and a partner", Johnson describes his role in his downfall as "worse than a crime".

He claimed that while reading Sunak's resignation letter he muttered "at least internally" the reported last words of Julius Caesar, "kai su, teknon".

The phrase roughly translates as "you too, child" and was said to have been directed at one of his assassins, Brutus.