Britain's Most Extraordinary Politician: The unbelievable life and career of Boris Johnson...

Boris Johnson's time as British Prime Minister is coming to an end after he was ousted by his Conservative Party colleagues. It is the latest dramatic chapter in the life of one of the UK's most remarkable, and successful, politicians. From his love life to his near-fatal dose of COVID-19 this is the life and times of Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson...

Boris was born in New York City in 1964 before attending boarding school in England. He gained a scholarship to the prestigious Eton College before studying classics at Oxford University. Johnson then embarked on a career in journalism, working for The Times newspaper (from which he was fired for fabricating a quote), and The Daily Telegraph as well as The Spectator magazine.

Boris was elected as a Member of Parliament for the Conservative party and went on to become one of the country's most recognisable politicians with regular appearances on TV panel shows. He challenged Labour's Ken Livingstone in the 2008 London mayoral election and triumphed narrowly to become the first Conservative to hold the post.

Johnson overcame perceptions that he was mistake-prone politician and won a second term as mayor in 2012. He oversaw the Olympic Games that were held in the city in the same and memorably became stuck in zipwire during a promotional event for the Games. Johnson introduced a public bicycle scheme for London and the bicycles became known as "Boris bikes".

Boris made a return to Parliament in 2015 and became the leading campaigner for Brexit in the EU Referendum the following year. When Brexit won a stunning victory in the poll, Boris was widely seen as the favourite to become Prime Minister following David Cameron's resignation. However, Boris was betrayed by key ally Michael Gove as he was set to announce his candidacy. Johnson withdrew his leadership bid but would become Foreign Secretary under new PM Theresa May.

Boris quit as Foreign Secretary in July 2018 as May struggled to convince the Conservatives with her Brexit strategy. May resigned as PM the following year and Johnson announced that he would be standing as leader and would take Britain out of the European Union. Boris was the clear front-runner in the leadership race and won the keys to 10 Downing Street in July 2019 by defeating opposing candidate Jeremy Hunt.

Johnson's personal life has been the subject of much interest and speculation. He has been married three times – to Allegra Mostyn-Owen, Marina Wheeler and Carrie Symonds respectively and also had widely reported affairs with Petronella Wyatt and Jennifer Arcuri. Boris also fathered a daughter with arts consultant Helen MacIntyre and has a total of seven children in all. Boris married Symonds in May 2021 to become the first Prime Minister to wed in office since 1822. The couple welcomed son Wilfried and daughter Romy during his time in Downing Street.

Johnson called a general election for December 2019 and the won a landslide majority of 80 seats to give the Conservative party its biggest majority since 1987. The result gave Boris a mandate to take Britain out of the EU and the departure was sealed on 31 January 2020.

Britain was plunged into crisis soon after Johnson's election victory as the coronavirus pandemic hit and the nation went into lockdown in March 2020. Johnson contracted COVID-19 later that month and was admitted to hospital when his symptoms worsened. His condition deteriorated once more and he spent three nights in an intensive care unit with his life in danger. Boris returned to work after making a recovery and his government introduced a successful vaccine rollout to ease the health crisis in the UK.

Boris has been one of Ukraine's staunchest supporters following Russia's invasion of the country in February 2022. The Prime Minister is seen as a hero in the nation and has forged a close relationship with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Johnson made two trips to the capital Kyiv and made a virtual address to the Ukrainian parliament – becoming the first world leader to speak in the nation following the invasion.

Boris came under pressure as a series of scandals undermined his leadership, particularly when he was fined for breaking his own government's lockdown rules by attending a party inside Downing Street. He survived a vote of confidence in his leadership in June 2022 but the resignations of Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid in July following another scandal this time involving MP Chris Pincher who Boris who had made the Government Deputy Chief Whip, despite known about misconduct allegations against him stemming from 2017. The latest misjudgement was too much for the Conservative Party to bear and a raft of resignations followed. So, on July 7, 2022 Johnson announced that he would be standing down as Conservative leader and will leave his post as Prime Minister once his replacement is chosen.