Boris Johnson and David Cameron are not exact contemporaries, but both started their careers in earnest at the same time, as Alistair Lexden pointed out in a letter published in The Spectator on 5 March under the heading “What might have been”.
Sir: Harry Mount points out that Boris Johnson is two years older than David Cameron (Diary, 27 February). Both, however, began their careers in the same year. On 15 June 1988 I interviewed David Cameron for a post in the Conservative Research Department; on 26 July it was Boris’s turn (‘Johnston’ in my diary) . The former was signed up to cover trade and industry issues (memorably forgetting the trade figures when Mrs Thatcher asked him for them). Boris was invited to follow in the footsteps of father Stanley who had been the Department’s first environment expert in the Heath era. But journalism lured him away. Would they have forged a lifetime’s close and harmonious friendship if Boris had reached a different decision?
Alistair Lexden
Deputy Director, Conservative Research Department 1985-97
House of Lords, London SW1