A tale of two Borises: What do Boris Johnson and Boris Yeltsin have in common?

They share a similar mix of personal ambition – sometimes dressed up as concern for the nation – and recklessness, writes Mary Dejevsky

Like Johnson today, Yeltsin had no fear of ‘the people’ (Getty)

When the prime minister executed what was described as his “screeching U-turn” on attending the Cop27 climate conference in Egypt, various official explanations were offered for his change of heart. They included pressure from the public and his own MPs, a new appreciation of the importance of climate and the opportunities for networking, given that other heads of state and government will attend.

Call me cynical, but I doubt that the main reason was any of these. I bet it was the revelation that the PM’s predecessor but one, Boris Johnson, was already packing his bags for Sharm El-Sheikh and was guaranteed to hog the UK media limelight were the prime minister not to go. Johnson’s rushed return from his Caribbean holiday might not have sped him directly back to No 10, but – as his subsequent Sky News interview showed – Johnson’s hopes of a comeback remain alive.

Past prime ministers can be a pain in the neck for their successors – think Edward Heath, Margaret Thatcher and even Theresa May. And while leaving politics altogether might be the wiser course, the wiser course is rarely Johnson’s way. It seems rather that, by accident or design, he might be establishing a rival power centre, and there are precedents, if not in this country, for what could happen next.