Welcome to the Colette Podcast. My name is Claire Lehman and I am editor and chief of Colette.

Colette is where Free Thought lives. We are an independent grassroots platform for heterodox ideas and fearless commentary.

Our podcast is a team effort and is jointly hosted by myself,

associate editor Toby Young and Canadian editor Jonathan Kay. You can support our podcast by

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Welcome to the quilette podcast. patron you'll also receive our weekly newsletter.

Welcome to the Quillett podcast.

I'm Jonathan Kay, Quillett's Toronto-based Canadian editor.

This week the United Kingdom got a new Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, a man known well to the British public as writer,

editor, activist, London mayor, member of parliament, sex scandal protagonist, and all around

Firebrand.

On Tuesday, my Colette colleague Toby Young published an appreciative profile of Johnson

on our website called,

Comeeth the Hour, the man.

In his article, Young not only traces the arc of Johnson's unique career, but also relates

his memories from Oxford University and The Spectator magazine, where the two men cross paths. Many critics of Johnson

are want to compare him to the likes of Donald Trump and even Hungary's Victor

Orban. But Toby, who once co-wrote a comedic play about Johnson, takes a very different view.

He spoke to me for the Colette Podcast from London.

Here are excerpts from our conversation.

So one New York Times headline that I was reading said something to the effect of Boris Johnson was just elected Prime Minister by 1% of the British population.

...