Shift rightward

In the 1970s, Johnson became increasingly conservative in his outlook and has largely remained so. In his Enemies of Society (1977), following a series of articles in the British press, he opposed the trade union movement, perceiving it as violent and intolerant, terming trade unionists "fascists". As Britain’s economy faltered, Johnson began to advocate the future British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s message of less government and less taxation. He was eventually won over to the Right and became one of Thatcher's closest advisers: "In the 1970s Britain was on its knees. The Left had no answers. I became disgusted by the over-powerful trade unions which were destroying Britain," he recalled in 2004.

After Thatcher's victory in the general election of 1979 Johnson advised on changes to legislation concerning trade unions and was also one of Thatcher's speechwriters. Johnson was quoted in 2004:

"'I was instantly drawn to her,' he recalls. 'I’d known Margaret at Oxford. She was not a party person. She was an individual who made up her own mind. People would say that she was much influenced by Karl Popper or Frederick Hayek. The result was that Thatcher followed three guiding principles: truthfulness, honesty and never borrowing money.'"

From 1981 to 2009, Johnson wrote a column for The Spectator; initially focusing on media developments, it subsequently acquired the title "And Another Thing". In his journalism, Johnson generally deals with issues and events which he sees as indicative of a general social decline, whether in art, education, religious observance or personal conduct. He has continued to contribute to the magazine, less frequently than before. During the same period he contributed a column to the Daily Mail until 2001. In a Daily Telegraph interview in November 2003, he criticised the Mail for having a pernicious impact: "I came to the conclusion that that kind of journalism is bad for the country, bad for society, bad for the newspaper".

Johnson is a regular contributor to The Daily Telegraph, mainly as a book reviewer, and in the United States to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Commentary and the National Review. He also writes for Forbes magazine. For a time in the early 1980s he wrote for The Sun after Rupert Murdoch urged him to "raise its tone a bit".

Johnson is a critic of modernity because of what he sees as its moral relativism, and finds objectionable those who use Charles Darwin's theory of evolution to justify their atheism or use it to promote biotechnological experimentation. As a result of Johnson's views on evolution, Richard Dawkins and Steven Pinker have been a target of Johnson's criticism. As a conservative Catholic, Johnson regards liberation theology as a heresy and defends clerical celibacy, but departs from others in seeing many good reasons for ordination of women as priests.

Admired by conservatives in the United States and elsewhere, he is strongly anticommunist. Johnson has defended Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal, finding his cover-up considerably less heinous than Bill Clinton's perjury and Oliver North's involvement in the Iran-Contra Affair. In his Spectator column, Johnson defended his friend Jonathan Aitken, has expressed admiration for General Augusto Pinochet and (qualified) admiration for General Franco.

Johnson was active in the campaign, led by Norman Lamont, to prevent Pinochet's extradition to Spain after Pinochet's arrest in London. "There have been countless attempts to link him to human rights atrocities, but nobody has provided a single scrap of evidence," Johnson was reported as saying in 1999. In Heroes (2008), Johnson returned to his longstanding claim that criticism of Pinochet's regime on human rights grounds came from "the Soviet Union, whose propaganda machine successfully demonised among the chattering classes all over the world. It was the last triumph of the KGB before it vanished into history's dustbin".

He has described France as "a republic run by bureaucratic and party elites, whose errors are dealt with by strikes, street riots and blockades" rather than a democracy.

He served on the Royal Commission on the Press (1974-77) and was a member of the Cable Authority (regulator) from 1984 to 1990.

In 2006, Johnson was honoured with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by U.S. President George W. Bush. On the BBC programme Desert Island Discs in January 2012, Johnson professed himself unimpressed by Nelson Mandela.

Personal life

Paul Johnson has been married to the psychotherapist and former Labour Party parliamentary candidate Marigold Hunt since 1958. They have three sons and a daughter: the journalist Daniel Johnson, a freelance writer, editor of Standpoint magazine, and previously associate editor of The Daily Telegraph, who is married to the writer and birth educator Sarah Johnson née Thompson; Luke Johnson, businessman and former chairman of Channel 4 Television; Cosmo Johnson; and Sophie Johnson-Clark, who has worked as a television script editor and now resides in the US and is married to Spike Vrusho (aka Mike Clark), the underground sportswriter and author. Paul and Marigold Johnson have ten grandchildren.

In 1998 it was revealed Johnson had an affair lasting eleven years with the writer Gloria Stewart. Stewart went public with the affair to the newspapers after what she saw as Johnson’s hypocrisy over his views on morality, religion and family values.

Johnson is a friend of British playwright Tom Stoppard, who dedicated his 1978 play Night and Day to him.

Johnson is a watercolourist, painting mainly landscapes, who has exhibited regularly.

Incomplete bibliography

Johnson's books are listed by subject or type. The country of publication is the UK, unless stated otherwise.

Anthologies, polemics & contemporary history

• Johnson, Paul Bede; Abel-Smith, Brian; Calder, Nigel; Hoggart, Richard; Jones, Mervyn; Marris, Peter; Murdoch, Iris; Shore, Peter; Thomas, Hugh; Townsend, Peter; Williams, Raymond (1957), "A Sense of Outrage", in Mackenzie, Norman Ian, Conviction, London, ENG, UK: MacGibbon & Kee, pp. 202-17 .
• Johnson, Paul Bede (1957), The Suez War, London, ENG, UK: MacGibbon & Kee .
• ——— (1958), Journey Into Chaos, Western Policy in the Middle East, London, ENG, UK: MacGibbon & Kee .
• ——— (1971), Statesmen and Nations, Sidgwick & Jackson . An anthology of New Statesman articles from the 1950s and 1960s. Often surprisingly mild in tone given Johnson's later development.
• ——— (1977), Enemies of Society, Weidenfeld & Nicolson .
• ——— (1980), The Recovery of Freedom, Mainstream, Basil Blackwell .
• ——— (1981), Davis, William, ed., The Best of Everything - Animals, Business, Drink, Travel, Food, Literature, Medicine, Playtime, Politics, Theatre, Young World, Art, Communications, Law and Crime, Films, Pop Culture, Sport, Women's Fashion, Men's Fashion, Music, Military - contributor.
• ——— (1985), The Pick of Paul Johnson, Harrap .
• ——— (1991), The Oxford Book of Political Anecdotes (2nd ed.), Oxford University Press .
• ——— (1988), Intellectuals, Weidenfeld & Nicolson .
• 1994 The Quotable Paul Johnson A Topical Compilation of His Wit, Wisdom and Satire (George J. Marlin, Richard P. Rabatin, Heather Higgins (Editors)) 1994 Noonday Press/1996 Atlantic Books(US)
• 1994 Wake Up Britain - a Latter-day Pamphlet Weidenfeld & Nicolson
• 1996 To Hell with Picasso & Other Essays: Selected Pieces from “The Spectator” Weidenfeld & Nicolson
• 2009 Churchill (biography), 192 pp.
• 2012 Darwin: Portrait of a genius (Viking, 176 pages)

Art & architecture

• 1980 British Cathedrals Weidenfeld & Nicolson ISBN 0-297-77828-5
• 1993 Gerald Laing : Portraits Thomas Gibson Fine Art Ltd (with Gerald Laing & David Mellor MP)
• 1999 Julian Barrow's London Fine Art Society
• 2003 Art: A New History Weidenfeld & Nicolson

History

• 1972 The Offshore Islanders: England's People from Roman Occupation to the Present/to European Entry Weidenfeld & Nicolson
• 1974 Elizabeth I: a Study in Power and Intellect Weidenfeld & Nicolson
• 1974 The Life and Times of Edward III Weidenfeld & Nicolson
• 1976 Civilizations of the Holy Land Weidenfeld & Nicolson
• 1976 A History of Christianity
• 1977 Education of an Establishment in The World Of the Public School (pp13-28), edited by George MacDonald Fraser, Weidenfeld & Nicolson /St Martins Press (US edition)
• 1978 The Civilization of Ancient Egypt Weidenfeld & Nicolson
• 1981 Ireland: A Concise History from the Twelfth Century to the Present Day Granada
• 1983 A History of the Modern World from 1917 to the 1980s Weidenfeld & Nicholson
• 1984 Modern Times: A History of the World from the 1920s to the 1980s Weidenfeld & Nicolson Weidenfeld & Nicolson
• 1986 The Oxford Book of Political Anecdotes Oxford University Press (editor)
• 1987 Gold Fields A Centenary Portrait Weidenfeld & Nicolson
• 1987 The History of the Jews Weidenfeld & Nicolson (later editions titled A History of the Jews)
• 1991 The Birth of the Modern: World Society 1815-1830 Weidenfeld & Nicolson (UK) ISBN 978-1-78-022714-6
• 1997 A History of the American People Weidenfeld & Nicolson ISBN 0-06-093034-9
• 2002 The Renaissance Weidenfeld & Nicolson/*Random House (USA)
• 2002 Napoleon (Lives S.) Weidenfeld & Nicolson
• 2005 George Washington: The Founding Father (Eminent Lives Series) Atlas Books
• 2006 Creators HarperCollins Publishers (USA) ISBN 0-06-019143-0
• 2007 Heroes HarperCollins Publishers (USA) ISBN 978-0-06-114316-8; ISBN 0-06-114316-2; HarperCollins Publishing link to book
• 2010 Humorists HarperCollins Publishers (USA) ISBN 978-0-06-182591-0
• 2011 Socrates Viking (USA)

Memoirs

• 2004 The Vanished Landscape: A 1930s Childhood in the Potteries Weidenfeld & Nicolson: ISBN 978-0-7538-1933-3
• 2010 Brief Lives Hutchinson

Novels

• 1959 Left of Centre MacGibbon & Kee
• 1964 Merrie England MacGibbon & Kee

Religion

• 1975 Pope John XXIII Hutchinson
• 1977 A History of Christianity Weidenfeld & Nicolson /1976 Simon & Schuster /Atheneum (USA)
• 1982 Pope John Paul II And The Catholic Restoration St Martins Press
• 1996 The Quest for God: A Personal Pilgrimage Weidenfeld & Nicolson/HarperCollins (USA)
• 1997 The Papacy Weidenfeld & Nicolson
• 2010 Jesus: A Biography From a Believer Penguin Books

Travel

• 1973 The Highland Jaunt Collins (with George Gale)
• 1974 A Place in History: Places & Buildings Of British History Omega
• 1978 National Trust Book of British Castles Granada Paperback
• 1984 The Aerofilms Book of London from the Air Weidenfeld & Nicolson

References and sources

References

[ Source: Wikipedia ]