Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and journalist. The current Mayor of London, he previously served as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Henley-on-Thames and as editor of The Spectator magazine.

Johnson was educated at European School of Brussels, the independent Ashdown House School in the village of Forest Row in East Sussex, then at Eton College in the town of Eton in Berkshire, and finally at Balliol College, Oxford, where he read Classics. He began his career in journalism with The Times, and later moved on to The Daily Telegraph where he was assistant editor. In 1995 a recording of a telephone conversation was made public revealing that he was involved in a plot to physically assault a News of the World journalist, but he retained his job at the Telegraph. He was appointed editor of The Spectator in 1999. In the 2001 general election he was elected to the House of Commons and became one of the most high profile politicians in the country, partly because of his distinctive appearance and persona. He gained praise for several appearances on the Have I Got News for You television programme, but received negative headlines in October 2004 after an editorial column in The Spectator criticised the people of Liverpool after the death of Kenneth Bigley. He has also written several books.

Under Michael Howard, Johnson briefly served on the Conservative front bench as the Shadow Minister for the Arts from April 2004 until November 2004 when he was sacked after allegedly lying to Howard when denying he had had an affair with Petronella Wyatt. When contemporary David Cameron was elected leader of the Conservative Party in 2005, Johnson was re-appointed to the front bench as Shadow Minister for Higher Education and resigned as editor of The Spectator to concentrate on his new role. In September 2007 he was selected as the Conservative candidate for the 2008 Mayor of London election. Johnson defeated Labour incumbent Ken Livingstone and was elected Mayor, after which he resigned as an MP.