At 4,000 words, a “war book” prepared by Downing Street aides on Boris Johnson was not short on material that could scupper his chances of becoming Tory leader:

SEX

Circa 2001-05

Alleged by Andrew Gimson in his biography of Johnson: “It was said that Boris took the Spectator’s bridge columnist out to lunch in order to sack her, but slept with her instead.”

November 7, 2004

Sunday Mirror breaks story about the socialite Petronella Wyatt aborting Johnson’s child; the story contained claims that Johnson had said he would not support the child, and was refusing to pay medical bills from the termination [which he denied]. In a series of articles following the story, Johnson is accused of lying over the affair to journalists and has to…