Politics

‘I failed’: Former Eton master pens brutal letter following Johnson’s resignation

A former Eton master has penned a brutal letter to The Times following Boris Johnson’s resignation.

The outgoing MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip launched a scathing attack on the Privileges Committee after he was forced to step down on Friday night.

He said the report, which was published on Monday, was “riddled with inaccuracies and reeks of prejudice” while providing him with “no formal ability to challenge anything they say”.

The ungracious response has provoked a flurry of bemused reactions, with Lord Heseltine saying that “even in his resignation statement Boris Johnson can’t tell the truth”.

John Claughton, who was a master at Eton College from 1984 to 2001, also penned a letter to The Times saying it is crucial for the school to save its students from the “sense of privilege, entitlement and omniscience” that can produce alumni such as Jonson, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Kwasi Kwarteng.

“Sadly, I failed in that purpose”.

A letter sent to Boris Johnson’s dad during his time at Eton College has also been making the rounds on social media – and it explains a lot.

Writing of him in a school report in April 1982, he said:

“Boris really has adopted a disgracefully cavalier attitude to his classical studies . . . Boris sometimes seems affronted when criticised for what amounts to a gross failure of responsibility (and surprised at the same time that he was not appointed Captain of the School for next half): I think he honestly believes that it is churlish of us not to regard him as an exception, one who should be free of the network of obligation which binds everyone else.”

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Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

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