Boris Johnson shocks readers with first Daily Mail column: 'Underwhelming, to say the least'

Boris Johnson was recently accused of misleading the Parliament about the Christmas parties he allowed to take place during the Covid-19 restrictions in 2020.

But Partygate is not his only headache as people are still raging about him giving peerage to his young aide Charlotte Owen, with some claiming they know exactly why he did it.

Although Boris Johnson quit his lucrative MP job as a result of the damning Partygate report, he didn’t miss out on money and immediately got hired by Daily Mail while also working on another well-paid writing gig.

Despite the fresh backlash over breaking the ministerial code by taking the new job, the former PM has already delivered his first column. But it was not quite what people expected.

In a 1000-word text former PM opened up about his weight loss journey and even mentioned his favourite snack, appealing to cash-strapped Daily Mail readers to be better at controlling their night cravings, improve their health and therefore cost less to the NHS.

But it’s not Boris Johnson’s life lessons everyone is discussing online.

Some tech-savvy social media users suspect he didn’t write his column himself but used the famous AI tool ChatGPT to do it. Here’s what they say.

Here’s what we learnt from Boris Johnson’s first Daily Mail column

Boris Johnson used his first writing opportunity in Daily Mail, the newspaper that reportedly supported him through thick and thin during his political career, to raise the subject of weight loss.

Calling himself a ‘fatty’, the former PM reminded Brits that ‘the obesity crisis in this country is appalling’ and that ‘more than three-quarters of older people are overweight or obese’ while ‘numbers are terrible among the kids’.

Read more:

⋙ Boris Johnson once offered his lover Carrie Symonds a top job in his office

⋙ Boris Johnson reportedly richer than ever before as latest £3.8M purchase has been revealed

Although raising such an important topic might seem noble by Boris Johnson who admits that he’s often guilty of raiding his fridge at 11.30 pm in search of cheddar and chorizo that he then washes down with a half-bottle of wine, readers of Daily Mail might have to opt for cheaper snacks amid the cost of living crisis than the new columnist who regularly earns 7-digits payouts.

Illustrating the obesity crisis with his own example, Boris Jonhson revealed that he felt jealous about his Westminster colleagues who lost weight thanks to ‘miracle drug’ Ozempic - a £2,700-a-year semaglutide course - and decided to give it a try.

Although it worked at first with him ‘losing four or five pounds a week’ and ‘effortlessly’ pushing aside 'the puddings and the second helpings' as a result of hunger-suppressing jabs in his belly, the pricey cure started making the former politician increasingly sick, to the point where he had to discontinue the drug.

In his column, Boris Johnson said that despite his own failure, he still believed in the miracle drugs for weight loss and expressed hope that one day there will be one for him.

Users speculate about Boris Johnson getting AI to write his column

Boris Johnson’s column, described by Daily Mail as ‘required reading around the world’ sparked negative reactions online with many calling it ‘pathetic’, ‘shameful’ and ‘tone-deaf’.

Quite a few users admitted ‘there was no way’ they were going to read it.

Huffington Post branded the piece ‘underwhelming, to say the least’.

Quite a lot of users said they believed Boris Johnson was ‘too lazy’ to produce the text himself and used ChatGPT to do it for him.

Adam Bienkov, political editor at Byline Times wrote on Twitter:

I asked ChatGPT to write an 'amusing' Boris Johnson column about taking appetite suppressants, in order to stop himself from eating cheese and chorizo, but then giving them up when he felt a bit nauseous, and to be honest it's not far off the real thing.

One user commented:

That's how he got the column written.

Another one chimed in:

Probably exactly what he's doing.

Someone else wrote:

The Mail could save themselves some money!

Read more:

⋙ Boris Johnson's wife announces third baby: How many children does the former PM have?

⋙ Rishi Sunak branded 'out of touch' once again over $3M donation to wife Akshata's university

Sources used:

- Metro: 'Boris Johnson reveals he was using celebrity weight loss drug and dropped 5lbs a week'

- Daily Mail: 'The wonder drug I hoped would stop my 11.30pm fridge raids for cheddar and chorizo didn’t work for me. But I still believe it could change the lives of millions'