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Johnson V May

It’s bonking Boris V kitten-heeled Theresa in the race for place at Number 10

10 things you need to know about the Tory frontrunners

Theresa May and Boris Johnson

THEY are the Tory heavyweights who look set to battle it out for the keys to Number 10.

But aside from their political party allegiance, Theresa May, 59, and Boris Johnson, 52, could not be more different.

 Theresa May is a possible contender for becoming the next Prime Minister
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Theresa May is a possible contender for becoming the next Prime MinisterCredit: PA:Press Association
 Boris will fight Theresa for the keys to Number 10
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Boris will fight Theresa for the keys to Number 10Credit: i-Images Picture Agency

As the two frontrunners ramp up their campaigns to take over from David Cameron as PM and party leader, how much do you know about the dithering “Theresa Maybe, Maybe Not” and philanderer “Boris-sconi”?

Here, MARTIN PHILLIPS and AMY JONES size them up.

 

MOST EMBARRASSING PHOTOGRAPH

 Theresa left little to the imagination with her choice of famous red dress
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Theresa left little to the imagination with her choice of famous red dressCredit: Pixel8000

May: Upstaged Chancellor George Osborne during March’s Budget speech by leaving very little to the imagination in a push-up bra beneath her plunging red suit.

 

 Left hanging...Boris got stuck on a zip wire in 2012
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Left hanging...Boris got stuck on a zip wire in 2012Credit: Barcroft Media

Johnson: Left dangling 20ft in the air after getting stuck on a zip wire at a London Olympics celebration event in 2012, his harness crumpling his appearance and a blue safety helmet making him look particularly ridiculous as he waved a couple of Union Flags.

 

DESERT ISLAND DISC CHOICE

 Theresa would choose Abba as one of her choice of disc on a desert island
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Theresa would choose Abba as one of her choice of disc on a desert islandCredit: Getty Images

May: Walk Like A Man from the original Broadway production of Jersey Boys.

The Pange Lingua Gloriosi Corporis Mysterium by the Capella Gregoriana.

Cello Concerto in E Minor (opening) by Edward Elgar.

Dancing Queen by Abba.

The Rondo from the Abdelazer Suite by Henry Purcell.

The Queen of the Night aria from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Magic Flute.

The Compassionate Society episode from BBC sitcom Yes Minister.

When I Survey The Wondrous Cross by Isaac Watts, sung by the Wesley Chapel Congregation.

Book choice: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

Luxury Item: A lifetime subscription to Vogue.

 The Rolling Stones are one of Boris' choices for some alone time
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The Rolling Stones are one of Boris' choices for some alone timeCredit: Getty Images

Johnson: Here Comes The Sun by The Beatles.

Soul Limbo (the signature tune for cricket’s Test Match Special) by Booker T & The MGs.

St Matthew Passion – Ich will hier bei dir stehen by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Start Me Up by The Rolling Stones.

Variations on the St Antoni Chorale (finale) by Johannes Brahms.

Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison.

Pressure Drop by The Clash.

Symphony No.5 in C minor – 4th movement by Ludwig van Beethoven.

Book choice: Homer – an Indian paper edition (to translate).

Luxury Item: A large pot of French mustard.

 

HOBBIES

 

May: Walking, cooking and natty shoes.

She is a member of the Church of England and worships at her local parish every Sunday.

 

Johnson: Boris is a history buff and is particularly interested in Winston Churchill.

He released a book on the famous PM, The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History, last year.

 

APPEARANCE

 May often resembles a school headmistress with an edge
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May often resembles a school headmistress with an edgeCredit: Times Newspapers Ltd

May: School headmistress. Grey bobbed hair, animal-print, kitten-heel shoes, smart trouser suits, power handbags and big necklaces.

Often likened to Zelda from the Terrahawks kids’ TV series.

 

Johnson: Absent-minded professor whose looks have been compared to Lips from The Muppets.

Tousled blond hair, odd socks and scruffy clothing, even when wearing expensive suits.

Will often top off formal wear with a lop-sided cycle helmet and clamp his trousers with cycle clips.

Has been seen running in a skull-and-crossbones bandana and floral shorts.

 

EARNINGS

 

May: The Home Secretary has a previously lucrative career as a financial consultant.

Her Cabinet Minister’s salary, though not officially announced, is believed to be £141,505, up from £134,565 but frozen for the next five years.

 

Johnson: As Mayor of London, he took home a £143,000 salary but now earns the basic MP salary of £74,000 as MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip.

He also gets £275,000 a year to write a regular column for the Daily Telegraph.

Last year he declared advances, royalties and rights fees for his book writing of £330,000 and he signed a deal to write a £500,000 biography of Shakespeare which, since May 2015, has been working out at around £105,000 a year.

 

LOW POINT

 

May: Failed to honour Conservative pledge before the last election to bring net migration to the UK down to the “tens of thousands”.

Accused by Coalition colleague Nick Clegg of “outrageous untruths” and putting the lives of children at risk by her department’s inactivity following her speech to the Tory Party conference in 2014.

 

Johnson: Sacked as a graduate trainee journalist in 1988 by The Times for falsifying quotes.

Sacked as Tory party Vice-Chairman and Shadow Arts Minister in 2004 for lying about his affair with Petronella Wyatt.

 

PROPERTIES

 May's London home is on Abbey Orchard Street
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May's London home is on Abbey Orchard StreetCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd

May: Her primary residence is in the pretty Berkshire village of Sonning-on-Thames, where neighbours include George Clooney and Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page.

Detached houses there fetch a minimum £1.5million.

She also has a smart Westminster address.

 Boris' Islington home is worth £4.2million
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Boris' Islington home is worth £4.2millionCredit: National Pictures / Lucy Young

Johnson: He bought his five-storey townhouse in Islington, North London, for £2.3million in 2009.

The property it is now estimated to be worth £4.2million.

He has also hung on to his rural farmhouse pied-à-terre near Thame, Oxon, where detached properties average £1.1million.

Famous London neighbours include Kathy Burke, Emma Watson, Phil Daniels. . . and Jeremy Corbyn.

 

HIGH POINT

 

May: Appointment as Home Secretary in 2010, only the fourth woman to hold one of the four great offices of state and the second female to take on the post.

Managed to get Abu Hamza extradited in 2012 and has banned a clutch of other hate preachers from entering the UK.

Took on the European Court of Human Rights and negotiated an extradition treaty with Jordan for radical preacher Abu Qatada in 2013.

Told Police Federation at its own conference last month to clean up its act.

 

Johnson: Led the Leave campaigners to victory in the EU Referendum last week.

He won two terms as London Mayor in 2008 and 2012, during which time he oversaw the upgrading of the Tube network, introduced Crossrail and promoted cycling in the city with so-called Boris Bikes and “cycle superhighways”.

The 2012 Olympic Games enabled Johnson to demonstrate his greatest strength as mayor – the ability to generate laughter and a mood of upbeat bonhomie.

 

RELATIONSHIPS

 Happy couple...Theresa has been married to her husband Philip for over 30 years
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Happy couple...Theresa has been married to her husband Philip for over 30 yearsCredit: Getty Images

May: Met husband, Philip, a banker, when they studied together at Oxford and they married in 1980.

They have no children, which she describes as a constant loss.

She said in 2012: “I think if you talk to anybody who would like to have had children . . . I mean, you look at families all the time and you see there is something there that you don’t have.”

 Johnson had an affair during his second marriage to wife Marina
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Johnson had an affair during his second marriage to wife MarinaCredit: Alamy

Johnson: Married Allegra Mostyn-Owen, who he met at Oxford University, in 1987.

They divorced after he dumped her for current spouse Marina Wheeler, a barrister, in 1993.

In 2004 Johnson admitted a four-year affair with the journalist Petronella Wyatt, who had an abortion after becoming pregnant.

He has four children with Marina but had an affair with art consultant Helen Macintyre, who had a daughter which her partner discovered was not his following a DNA test.

In 2013 a court ruled that it was in the public interest for the press to report that Johnson was the father.

 

BACKGROUND

 

May: The only child of Rev Hubert Brasier, a Church of England vicar, and his wife, Zaidee, she went to Heythrop Primary School and then St Juliana’s Roman Catholic Convent School for Girls in Oxfordshire.

She later gained a place at Holton Park Girls’ grammar school, now Wheatley Park comprehensive.

She studied geography at St Hugh’s College, Oxford.

 

Johnson: Born in New York, his full name is Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson and he is the eldest of four children.

De Pfeffel comes from his paternal grandmother, a descendant of a German prince.

Boris also has Turkish blood from his father’s side.

Dad Stanley was a Conservative MEP. His mum is painter Charlotte Johnson Wahl.

He went to Winsford Village School in Somerset, Primrose Hill Primary School in London and Ashdown House Prep School in East Sussex.

He won a King’s Scholarship to Eton College and read Classics at Balliol College, Oxford.

 

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