London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Sep 01, 2025

Boris Johnson ‘almost served in Liz Truss’s Cabinet as foreign secretary’

Boris Johnson ‘almost served in Liz Truss’s Cabinet as foreign secretary’

Boris Johnson almost served in Liz Truss’s Cabinet as foreign secretary, according to a new book. Ex-PMs reportedly discussed front-bench role focused on dealing with the war in Ukraine
Ms Truss met the former prime minister twice during this summer’s leadership contest, the book by journalist Sebastian Payne reveals.

The pair also spoke on the telephone in the last week of July - when Mr Johnson was still prime minister, where they in effect discussed a job swap should she win the contest.

She suggested that he could return to the Foreign Office, where he had served from 2016 to 2018, to concentrate on the war in Ukraine.

But in the end, the pair decided such an arrangement would be too complicated, according to the book, The Fall of Boris Johnson.

Ms Truss and Mr Johnson also had breakfast in Mr Johnson’s Downing Street flat on July 29, where Ms Truss was surprised to find that his famous wallpaper was not actually gold.

Her allies said he gave her plenty of “good advice”, which was followed up by a later visit to Chequers with political thoughts on the campaign.

The book reveals that such invitations were not extended to Rishi Sunak, the current Prime Minister, whom Mr Johnson blamed for costing his job.

Both Mr Sunak and Ms Truss were asked repeatedly during the leadership campaign whether they would offer Mr Johnson a position in their government.

At one debate, Ms Truss said: “I very much suspect he would not want a future role in government, he needs a well-earned break. 

“I’m sure he will have a role, I’m sure he will be vocal but he won’t be part of the Government.”

Mr Sunak said: “The simple answer for me is no. We need to look forward at this point, we need to bring change that people need.”

Despite their discussions about a job offer, earlier this week Mr Johnson compared Ms Truss’s mini-Budget to a badly-played piano, in a reference to a Morecambe and Wise sketch.

Asked by CNN what he thought of his successor’s disastrous tax-cutting plans, the former prime minister originally tried to sidestep the issue - saying it was rude to criticise a British government abroad.

But then, in his first comments on the mini-Budget, he said: “It’s kind of like when I play the piano. The notes individually sound perfectly OK, but they’re not in the right order, or occurring at the right time.”

This reflected the famous 1971 sketch in which conductor Andre Previn criticised Eric Morecambe over his bad playing of Grieg’s Piano Concerto, prompting him to reply: “I’m playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order.”

Mr Johnson also rejected suggestions he could return as prime minister, saying the chances were “impossibilia cubed or squared”.

He said: “I’ve always said for about 20 years that my chances of becoming PM were about as good as my chances of becoming decapitated by a frisbee, or blinded by a champagne cork or locked in a disused fridge.

“I then did become PM so my chances of becoming PM again I think are those impossibilia cubed or squared.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
Ukrainian Nationalist Politician Andriy Parubiy Assassinated in Lviv
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
×