‘He knocked over a boy but there were no questions’
As London mayor Johnson joins a street rugby tournament in Tokyo on a trade visit to Japan, October 2015. Photo by Stefan Rousseau
Most politicians don’t enjoy the photo calls and the stunts. Boris excels at them. This rugby match with some Tokyo children was set up to mark Japan hosting the Rugby World Cup, but Boris is very competitive and got carried away – so much so that he knocked this 10-year-old boy over. Most politicians and their staff would have covered their faces, horrified, but there were no questions or enquiries. No “should a grown man have been playing rugby with a 10-year-old?” It was just: “Oh, it’s Boris. He’s knocked over a child.” The boy laughed it off and things went back to normal within minutes.
People say he is Teflon – and he genuinely is. On that Japan trip, I did wonder how many people would know who he was, but everyone said: “Oh, we know him because we saw him on that zipwire!” For anybody else, that picture – and this one – would have been a disaster, but for him it was a triumph.
I remember the last day of the 2019 election campaign. We were in Southend, where he’d gone to meet a Tory supporter and plant a big Vote Conservative sign in her front garden. It was a pitch-black cold December night and he was given this huge mallet. He, of course, upped the ante – he climbed on top of the very thin wall and stood there, in his suit, with the mallet aloft. Nobody else would have even gone near that wall. “This can only go wrong,” I thought, but he knew what would make a good picture. His favourite phrase at photocalls when he was mayor was: “All right lads, I think we’ve shot the ass off that one.”
‘Stuck on the zipwire, his enthusiasm was draining fast’
The London mayor gets stuck on a zipwire at Victoria Park, London, August 2012. Photo by Kois Miah
It was the 2012 Olympics and Johnson was visiting Victoria Park to highlight Games’ attractions across the capital. When it became apparent he was going on the zipwire, I was surprised he was being allowed as the platform was really high. But he went with it – I guess once you’re up there, it’s the fastest way down. I waited at the bottom and positioned myself so I could show the height. Almost immediately, Johnson swung around and came down backwards. Luckily, towards the bottom, he swung back and I got a few decent frames.
As we know, Boris didn’t ever make it to the end and this was taken while he was waiting to be helped down. He was left dangling for maybe 10 minutes and was getting somewhat frustrated, his enthusiasm draining fast. At the time, I thought it was quite funny, although maybe not as funny as the time he fell in the river.
Did I think it would end up an iconic image? Well, it was clear that being suspended in a very uncomfortable harness, with everyone looking up at him while he tried to cover himself up with flags, was ridiculous – and couldn’t be styled out. And I think the photograph has had such longevity because it’s come to symbolise Johnson’s whole political career: boisterous and often self-heroic proclamations that fall well flat when it comes to delivering them. He is the Brexit poster boy, after all.
‘He liked daft outfits and sitting with kids in small chairs’
Now prime minister, Johnson jogs with his dog Dilyn, January 2022. Photo by Hannah McKay
It was the height of the Partygate scandal. I had tried and failed to shoot Johnson out running on previous days. It means a very early start, plus you don’t know his schedule – he often drives to Buckingham Palace and runs in the gardens there. Your best hope in that case is to get a shot of him through the window of the car, but occasionally he would switch and jog in St James’s Park. That’s what he did on this morning and here he’s at the back of Downing Street, on his way home.
There are always two or three minders running with him and a car following. Dilyn the dog is quite excitable; Johnson always has him on a very long lead, which only adds to the chaos and humour of the situation as the dog and the photographers are all running round. At this point, Johnson was heading towards the pack of photographers and I was on the other side of the street. I took a gamble and didn’t use a flash, hoping I would pick one up from the other cameras going off. It’s a technique called catchflash.
Most of the access photographers get to the prime minister is orchestrated and managed. He is charismatic and does amusing things which make good pictures, but the environment is always controlled. A lot of his trips were to schools, factories and construction sites – anywhere he could wear PPE, look daft in outfits or sit with children in an undersized chair.
At the beginning of his premiership, this was brilliant for photographers as Theresa May was very reserved. You never saw her doing unusual things. But after two or three years of Boris, you started to expect him to be milking a cow or wearing a hairnet in a biscuit factory. We became desensitised because that’s just what he does. Opportunities to photograph him in a natural environment were rare. Other than when he left Downing Street to go to Prime Minister’s Questions, his early morning jog was the only time.
‘It’s the face he’s done whenever I’ve shot him’
Johnson with workers at the Tayto Castle crisp factory in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, November 2019. Photo by Daniel Leal
This was taken during the general election campaign, when the prime minister was campaigning across the north of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. He’d visited different parts of the Tayto factory, testing crisps, picking up bags and then finally reaching the quality control belt for potatoes. In between our shots, people were taking selfies.
The light was perfect. After a while we were told it was time to go, but as we were leaving I turned back and got this shot of him looking back at me. He’s pulling what I would describe as a classic Boris face. He’s doing it just to be funny, inviting a picture. It’s the face he’s done whenever I’ve shot him. In a way, he’s like the Queen – he will always look straight at you and give you the image.
When he’s out and about, he’s always very relaxed. He doesn’t mind if he looks like a clown and I’ve never seen him say no to a selfie. I went with him on a visit to a boy scouts group once. He tried making a fire with them but it wasn’t working. His team were saying “OK, we need to go now” but he would not budge. He just didn’t care what his team said, or even the children around him, until finally he made the fire.
‘His laces are tied, his shirt is tucked in and his suit fits’
Johnson arrives at Conservative Party headquarters as he becomes party leader, July 2019. Photo by Toby Melville
It was the day Johnson was voted in as party leader. He had just given us a thumbs-up with one hand and was saluting with the other. He must have known earlier on in the day that he was going to beat Jeremy Hunt, yet he was very low-key, even reserved, which surprised all of us when the declaration came. But the salute to me typifies his self-confidence. I can’t think of any other recent prime minister, or prime-minister-in-waiting, who would have done that, even in an unguarded moment.
It’s easy to think you’ve done an OK job with Boris because he gives you visual hooks. But you’ve got to think behind and beyond these, and find the moments when the swagger is gone and he’s not trying to clown around or please you. He is normally slightly dishevelled but he wasn’t here: his shoelaces weren’t undone, his shirt is tucked in and he has on a suit that fits. I don’t believe Johnson’s dishevelled look is contrived, though. I think that’s genuinely how he is. He is self-aware but not self-conscious.
The picture got a bit of traction, with the Guardian and the Telegraph using it on their front pages the next day (though not necessarily my version). I think it was the fact that we were thinking this is a weird package we’re getting, which the image illustrates.
‘Maybe they knew the harm they were inflicting on Britain’
MPs Jacob Rees-Mogg, Boris Johnson, Peter Bone and Iain Duncan Smith listen as fellow MP Steve Baker speaks during the launch of A World Trade Deal: The Complete Guide at parliament, September 2018. Photo by Dan Kitwood
This was taken at the height of the whole Brexit process. Johnson had just resigned as foreign secretary and I think the image sums up the mood of the nation at the time: tired and fed up. I’m still not entirely sure I was supposed to be in that room. I thought I’d been invited so I went into parliament and sat waiting. When they all walked in, they stared at me as if to say: “What the hell is a photographer doing here?” But nobody said anything so I got on with it.
I can’t remember exactly why everyone looks like they’re feeling the strain. The head of Land Rover had just attacked the government’s “no deal” stance, so they were having to fight that. They were constantly having to defend themselves and I think it was one of those days when they were just at their wits’ end. And maybe, ultimately, the people in the room knew the harm they were in the process of inflicting on the nation.
Boris does the head in hands thing a lot and can play up for the cameras. But I don’t get the sense anything happening in this picture was for my benefit – it was genuine frustration. It’s not often that an image comes together like this. You expect one person to do it but not everyone at the same time.
‘The pressure of Covid began to show in his facial expressions’
Johnson in his office as the Covid pandemic gathers pace, March 2020. Photo by Andrew Parsons, chief photographer to the PM
It’s not your typical Boris picture. This was taken on Saturday 14 March 2020 and he was on a call with Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance, being told that things were going to get worse with Covid. Nine days later, he announced that the country would have to go into lockdown.
I’ve spent the past two and a half years in No 10, photographing Johnson from the inside. In my opinion, it’s the best photography job in the country. In a way, taking the pictures is the easy bit – you’ve got to learn how to blend in, read the room, get on with people.
I never agreed with the idea that Boris was just a showman who couldn’t take things seriously. Before this, I’d photographed him at City Hall as mayor of London and seen how good he is at staying focused. You can see how seriously he takes the job in this picture. From Covid onwards, there were a lot of scenarios where the pressure was immense and it started to show in his facial expressions. But he kept going. Regardless of how big the battle was, it was rare that I saw him down and out, on the ropes.
Is this my best picture? No. I’m not a great fan of the composition. I would have preferred his aides to be looking at him. But I didn’t choose it for that. It’s a moment in history that will always stay with me.
