"I asked him whether he thought he was going to die.” What was going on behind closed doors when it looked like Boris was close to the edge?

Guto Harri, a trusted advisor to then PM Boris Johnson explains his account of what went on behind the shiny black door of No.10 Downing Street. By the time Guto arrived, COVID had ravaged the UK, thousands had died and many more had their lives turned upside down. And Boris nearly lost his.

The UK was tumbling out of a pandemic and into a cost-of-living crisis. The country needed a leader firing on all cylinders, and the Downing Street PR machine were desperate to prove Boris had bounced back from his bout of the disease. And then Boris gives a speech to business leaders… about Peppa Pig World.

Archive Credits: 

1. Good Thinking TV 

2. LBC / Global 

3. Parliament Live TV

4. The News Agents / Global

5. CNBC

6. BBC Newsnight / BBC News 

7. Bloomberg TV

8. BBC News 

9. PA Media 

10. U.S. Department of State / YouTube / 23 April 2020 

11. LBC News / Global

12. 10 Downing Street

13. ITV News

14. Sky News 

15. Beth Rigby Interviews… / Sky News 

16. Fabian Society / YouTube