Johnson's 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.

As a "chastened" Tory Party convened for its conference this week, and the wider country remained mired in the gloom that has enveloped it since Keir Starmer's "loveless victory", excerpts from Boris Johnson's soon-to-be-released memoir provided a "much-needed tonic", said the Daily Mail (which had acquired the serialisation rights).

In his shameless and predictable 772-page account of events, the former PM forgoes the truth to paint a preposterous picture of himself as a man of destiny, too good for his own good

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.

Boris bangs his own drum in his memoir, Unleashed, and fair enough - This memoir is selective and oddly melancholy, but what do you expect?

"All the fancy verbiage in the world cannot disguise the emptiness at the heart of this self-serving, solipsistic book."

By Boris Johnson. Harper; 784 pages; $40. William Collins; £30. I t was 2008, during the global financial crisis. Boris Johnson was mayor of London. The political situ

For a long time, we were assured that Boris Johnson was unlike other politicians. He did not bore the public, but delighted them. He could get away with things that others could not. He had a magic touch.

Unleashed’ is the product of his ‘split personality’ and reads like ‘Billy Bunter let loose in Westminster’, writes former home secretary