A look at three decades of Boris Johnson's scandals, blunders and rows

UK Prime Minister may be facing tough questions now, but it's not the first time he's been in hot water

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits the quality control laboratory where batches of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine are tested at Oxford Biomedica, on January 18, in Oxford. All photos from Getty Images, unless otherwise stated.

Mr Johnson carries doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for mobile distribution at Barnet Football Club's football ground, The Hive, in north London, on January 25.

Mr Johnson and his fiancee Carrie Symonds take part in a doorstep clap in memory of Captain Sir Tom Moore outside 10 Downing Street on February 3.

The prime minister visits Sedgehill School in south-east London and takes part in an online class on February 23, ahead of students returning to classrooms after remote learning.

Mr Johnson chairs a session of the UN Security Council on climate and security at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on February 23, in London.

Mr Johnson gives a thumbs-up during a visit to the National Express depot in Coventry on March 15. The prime minister was unveiling a shake-up of the bus sector which aims to see lower, simpler flat fares in towns and cities.

Mr Johnson gestures after receiving the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine at St Thomas's Hospital on March 19, in London.

Mr Johnson gives an update on the pandemic during a virtual press conference in the new £2.6 million No9 briefing room on March 29, in London.

Boris Johnson eats an ice cream during his visit at Haven Perran Sands Holiday Park on April 7, in Perranporth. The prime minister was visiting businesses to see how they were preparing to reopen after the Coronavirus lockdown.

Boris Johnson practices his football skills as he visits Hartlepool United Football Club on April 23, ahead of the May 6 by-election.

Mr Johnson, accompanied by Welsh Conservative candidate Barbara Hughes, visits Moreton farm near Wrexham as the prime minister campaigns in Wales ahead of elections, on April 26.

Mr Johnson visits Hartlepool after the Conservative Party candidate Jill Mortimer won the Hartlepool Parliamentary By-election on May 7.

Mr Johnson sits in the cockpit of an Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II during a visit to the 'HMS Queen Elizabeth' aircraft carrier on May 21. The ship was about to depart for Asia on its first operational deployment.

Mr Johnson poses with his wife Carrie in the garden of 10 Downing Street following their wedding at Westminster Cathedral, on May 29.

Mr Johnson hosts leaders during the G7 Summit in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, on June 11.

Queen Elizabeth II greets Mr Johnson during the first in-person weekly audience with the prime minister since the start of the coronavirus pandemic at Buckingham Palace on June 23.

Mr and Mrs Johnson celebrate England's second goal during the UEFA Euro 2020 Championship semi-final match between England and Denmark at Wembley Stadium on July 7.

Chief Scientific Advisor Patrick Vallance attends a media briefing on coronavirus at Downing Street with Boris Johnson attending online via a screen from Chequers, the country house of the prime minister, where he was self-isolating on July 19.

Prince Charles looks on as Mr Johnson opens his umbrella at The National Memorial Arboretum on July 28, in Stafford.

A soldier wearing a protective face mask depicting the flag of Afghanistan looks on as Mr Johnson meets military personnel who worked on the Afghan evacuation during a visit to Merville Barracks on September 2.

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, stands for a photograph with Mr Johnson at 10 Downing Street, on September 16. Hamad Al Kaabi / Ministry of Presidential Affairs

Mr Johnson speaks during the first post-reshuffle cabinet meeting in Downing Street, on September 17.

Mr Johnson delivers his leader's keynote speech during the Conservative Party conference at Manchester Central Convention Complex on October 6.

Mr Johnson prepares to receive attendees during day two of the Cop26 Summit on November 1, in Glasgow.

Mr Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel attend Diwali celebrations during their visit to the Hindu temple, BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, in Neasden, on November 7.

Mr Johnson speaking at the CBI annual conference on November 22, where at one point he lost his place for almost 30 seconds and referenced theme park 'Peppa Pig World'. PA

Mr Johnson observes an early morning Merseyside Police raid on a home in Liverpool as part of 'Operation Toxic' to infiltrate County Lines drug dealings on December 6.

Mr Johnson speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons on December 8. Johnson apologised and announced an internal probe after a video emerged of senior aides joking about a Christmas party at Downing Street last year. AFP

Mr Johnson speaks to update the nation from Downing Street on the Covid-19 booster vaccine programme on December 12. AFP

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has survived a series of scandals, blunders and controversies that could have sunk other political careers.

Here are some of them:

Journalism

In 1988 Mr Johnson was sacked from his first job in journalism as a graduate trainee on The Times for fabricating a quote.

In 1995 a recording emerged of a telephone conversation in which he agreed to provide an old friend, Darius Guppy, with the address of a journalist who was investigating him so that he could have him beaten up to the extent of “a couple of black eyes and a cracked rib or something like that”.

Mr Johnson said he did not pass on the information.

As a columnist on The Daily Telegraph, he was accused of racism and homophobia for descriptions of Africans and gay men.

In 2018, he caused further controversy with an article for the paper in which he described Muslim women as looking like “letterboxes” and “bank robbers”.

Foreign Secretary

In 2017, Mr Johnson was accused of worsening the plight of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – the British-Iranian dual national held in Tehran on spying charges – after he wrongly claimed she was in the country teaching journalism.

After his comments, Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who always maintained she was in Iran on holiday with her young daughter, was brought before a court and accused of engaging in propaganda.

Standards

After his resignation as foreign secretary, Mr Johnson was forced to apologise to Parliament for failing to properly declare outside earnings, which totalled more than £50,000 on nine separate occasions.

The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards found the failings were not inadvertent and showed a lack of regard for the rules of the House.

Priti Patel

Mr Johnson’s independent adviser on ministerial interests, Sir Alex Allan, quit after the prime minister overruled his finding that Home Secretary Priti Patel had bullied civil servants.

He said he did not accept that Ms Patel – a fellow Brexiteer – had breached the Ministerial Code, which would normally mean a requirement for her to quit.

Covid-19

Mr Johnson was widely criticised for failing to attend five government crisis response meetings in early 2020, just as the coronavirus was beginning to spread.

He controversially refused to sack his chief adviser Dominic Cummings over his notorious trip to Barnard Castle to “test his eyesight” while the country was in lockdown.

Mr Johnson came under fire for the chaotic way Christmas was cancelled for millions after the discovery of the Alpha variant and his slow response when the Delta variant was identified in India.

He reportedly said he would rather see bodies “piled high” than order a third national lockdown, and was panned for his reluctance to wear a face mask in Parliament.

The Downing Street flat

Mr Johnson was accused by Dominic Cummings, his former adviser, of secretly trying to arrange for wealthy Tory donors to pay for a lavish £112,000 revamp of his official flat over No 11 Downing Street.

After an inquiry, his new adviser on ministerial interests, Lord Geidt, accepted that Mr Johnson had not known what was going on and when he found out he paid for the work out of his own pocket.

Lord Geidt reacted angrily when he learnt later that Mr Johnson had exchanged WhatsApp messages with one of the donors involved, although he said it would not have changed his final conclusion that there was no breach of the Ministerial Code.

In a separate investigation, the Electoral Commission fined the Conservative Party £17,800 for failing to properly declare a donation, part of which was originally used to help pay for the revamp.