Boris Johnson says a 'midlife crisis' led him to a career politics

25 February 2021, 17:22

Boris Johnson says a 'midlife crisis' led him into politics

Boris Johnson turned to a career in politics because he was having a "mid-life crisis", he has said.

Speaking to the children on a visit to Accrington Academy in Lancashire, the Prime Minister told them: "When I was about 35 years old... I had the beginnings of a midlife crisis and I knew I had to do something, I had to start to contribute more so I went into politics as well as writing".

Mr Johnson added he thought that there was not equal opportunity across the UK, "I think the talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not necessarily."

"I think the UK is the greatest place in the world, the greatest place to be, the greatest place to grow up, the greatest place to raise a family, have a job - but I do not think that opportunity is the same in the whole of the UK."

Johnson backs Williamson over plans for teachers to grade pupils

READ MORE: Boris Johnson 'very optimistic' about removing all Covid restrictions by 21 June

READ MORE: No summer exams 'as good a compromise as we can come to', PM says

The Government announced on Thursday that GCSE and A-Level pupils will be given teacher-assessed grades earlier in August so they have more time to appeal their results after chaos in 2020.

Addressing the plans during the same visit, Mr Johnson said: "I think this is as good a compromise as we can come to. I think it will be fair, I think it will be durable and it's the right way forward."

He added: "In an ideal world you would not have taking kids out of school because of a pandemic, we would not have been forced to do this. And in an ideal world we would be continuing with exams as you normally have them".

Read more: Education Secretary insists exam system will be fair and says ‘no algorithm’ will be used

The Prime Minister said "the best place for kids is in school" and defended his plans to see pupils return on March 8th.

Johnson added: "What we are doing is the right thing to get all our students and pupils back on March 8th. I think that is what parents, teachers, and overwhelmingly, what pupils want to do".