http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3245375/Bamboozled-Boris-mischief-maker-...Bamboozled by Boris the mischief maker: Explosive biography tells how London mayor secured an extra £93MILLION of public money from Cameron and Osborne after threat to overshadow Tory conference
- Day Three of our serialisation of Lord Ashcroft's biography Call Me Dave
- Ashcroft says Boris was Cameron's last Tory candidate choice for Mayor
- Cameron was so desperate for alternative that he approached Greg Dyke
- Boris was given millions to help boost his political career following threat
By JAMES SLACK, HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED: 08:01 EST, 23 September 2015 | UPDATED: 10:14 EST, 23 September 2015
Silenced: Boris Johnson (pictured with his wife Marina Wheeler at London 2012) mischievously threatened to overshadow a major Tory event
Boris Johnson was silenced with more than £90million of public money after he threatened to lob a political hand grenade into a Tory party conference, it was claimed last night.
Lord Ashcroft’s biography of the Prime Minister also claims that he made his old Eton and Oxford adversary his last choice to be Tory candidate for London Mayor.
David Cameron dismissed Mr Johnson as having ‘totally the wrong profile’ and was so desperate to find an alternative that he even approached the Left-wing luvvie Greg Dyke, who he invited to run on a joint Tory/Lib Dem ticket.
When Mr Johnson found out what the PM had said, he jokingly labelled Mr Cameron a ‘bugger**’.
Later, he mischievously threatened to overshadow a major Tory event unless given tens of millions of pounds that helped boost his political career in the capital.
On Day Three of the Mail’s serialisation of Call Me Dave, Lord Ashcroft and his co-author Isabel Oakeshott, an award-winning political journalist, reveal how:
Mr Cameron once replied to a Cabinet minister who told him he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, ‘No, I was born with two’;
He allegedly asked two undercover KGB officers to get him cannabis during a gap year in Russia. One spy later reported back, ‘Young man, likes drugs, he won’t go too far’;
Number Ten’s own pollster warned the public has no idea what he stands for;
Lady Thatcher believed he was shallow, according to friends;
He pledged allegiance to ALL THREE candidates to replace her in 1990;
He tried – and failed – to win the endorsement of Sir John Major for his 2005 leadership bid.
Making a point: David Cameron (right) dismissed Mr Johnson (right) as having ‘totally the wrong profile’ - and when Mr Johnson found out what the PM had said, he jokingly labelled Mr Cameron a ‘bugger**’