The Underhand Tactics of a Journalist: A Story of Guppygate and Boris Johnson

An Account of How Marcus Scriven Confronted Boris Johnson About His Involvement in the Guppygate Scandal

In 1995, a major scandal rocked the UK when journalist Marcus Scriven broke the story of Guppygate. The scandal involved a wealthy businessman, Darius Guppy, who called his friend to acquire the address of our gutter journo, Stuart Collier, for a retribution beating. The friend he called was Boris Johnson, who was then a journalist. In a chapter from The Rise of Boris Johnson by Andrew Gimson covering the aftermath of the scandal, Scriven recounts an encounter he had with Johnson in 1997, two years after the scandal broke.

According to Scriven, he and Johnson were both invited to a lunch party in the Evening Standard's box at Newbury racecourse by Max Hastings, the editor of the paper. Scriven played a tape surreptitiously recorded by Peter Risdon in 1990 of Darius Guppy and Boris Johnson to a friend on the way to the event, as he wanted a witness in case the subject came up. After a pleasant lunch, Johnson and Scriven had a conversation, during which Johnson asked Scriven why he kept writing about him and Guppy. Scriven replied that he had only written about Guppy a couple of times and suggested that Johnson should write an article defending him if he knew him better than Scriven did.

According to Scriven, Johnson denied making a comment about Guppy's enemy, Stuart Collier, being hurt, and his wife Marina defended him. Scriven then revealed the tape to Johnson, causing him to react strongly and leave. Johnson eventually returned and suggested they call it quits.

Scriven's account of the event highlights the underhanded tactics used by some journalists to get a story. Scriven played the tape to his friend before the event to have a witness, and then revealed it to Johnson during a social event. The encounter also sheds light on the relationship between Johnson and Guppy. While the chapter does not confirm that Johnson facilitated Guppy in his activities (all parties in the scandal agree that no beating upon Stuart Collier ever took place), it does give insight into their relationship and Johnson's discomfort with the media attention the scandal brought him.

If you're interested in reading the accounts, you can find the full chapter from the book by following this link.