In 1995, a recording emerged of a conversation between Boris Johnson, then a young journalist on the rise, and businessman Darius GuppyA British businessman and school friend of Boris Johnson who was jailed for fraud in 1993.. In the conversation, Johnson promises to get Guppy the address of a journalist so he can have him beaten up.

"Boris is finished", observers confidently predicted. Six years later, he was elected to the House of Commons.

In 2004, Johnson was sacked as Shadow Arts Minister for lying about having an affair. Yet just four years later, he got himself elected Mayor of London.

In 2016, he joined the Vote LeaveThe official campaign to leave the European Union in 2016. It was criticised for misleading statements, most notorious among them the claim that the UK paid the EU £350m a week. campaign, which many accused of spreading misinformation. Seen as the frontrunner to become the new prime minister, he had to pull out of the contest after key ally Michael GoveA Conservative politician who has held a variety of high-profile ministerial positions. He was defeated by Theresa May in the 2016 Conservative leadership election. turned on him.

"Boris is finished", observers said again. Instead, he was appointed Foreign Secretary. He lasted two years before resigning so he could criticise his own government's negotiations with the EU.

"This time", they said, "he really is finished, languishing in obscurity on the backbenches." Yet in 2019, he was elected prime minister.

Barnard CastleIn 2020, Boris Johnson's chief advisor, Dominic Cummings, sparked controversy when it emerged that he had visited Barnard Castle in Durham at the height of the first Covid-19 lockdown. Johnson defended Cummings, who later left the government and became a critic of his former boss., Owen PatersonIn November 2021, senior MP Owen Paterson was found to have broken paid advocacy rules. Johnson defended him and tried to change the rules in his favour. In the resultant outcry, Paterson had to resign and his seat was won by the Liberal Democrats., Partygate - scandal after scandal, any one of which might have put an end to any other politician's career. Yet last night, faced with a confidence vote from his own MPs, Johnson has once again lived to tell the tale, winning by 211 votes to 148.

He promised his furious MPs that if they voted to keep him, he would change how he operates. But his way of doing politics has raised him to the highest office in the land. So why, some ask, would he ever change?

In fact, some think no politician ever changes. In 1837, Benjamin DisraeliA 19th-Century politician who was Britain's first and only prime minister of Jewish origin. made his maiden speech in the House of Commons. Other MPs mocked his pompous speaking style until he sat down, humiliated.

Yet in 1852 he became Chancellor of the Exchequer. His government fell because of his terrible speeches.

Then 16 years later, he was prime minister. He would dominate British politics for the next decade - making exactly the same flamboyant addresses.

Margaret ThatcherBritain's first female prime minister and the longest-serving prime minister of the modern era., like Johnson, hit upon a winning formula when she became prime minister in 1979. People loved her straightforward, domineering style. Yet when her own party began to turn against her, she could not change course.

But some politicians have changed their ways. In 1963, the career of promising MP John Profumo came to an abrupt end after it was revealed he had had an affair with Christine Keeler.

Profumo immediately retired from politics and devoted the rest of his life to charity work in East London. He never sought to make money or fame from his fall. His new colleagues did not even know he had been a minister.

Some who stay in politics can also change. In the 1960s, George Wallace, Governor of AlabamaA state in the southern USA. It had one of the largest slave populations before the Civil War, and afterwards, it imposed harsh Jim Crow laws to disenfranchise Black Americans., was a staunch segregationist who ran openly racist campaigns.

But in the late 1970s, he renounced his past views and apologised to Black civil rights leaders. In 1983 he ran for governor again and appointed a record number of Black people to state positions.

Yes: Many politicians undergo a Damascene conversionA sudden and total reversal of one's beliefs. The expression comes from the story of St Paul, who, having persecuted Christians, converted to Christianity on the road to Damascus. in their time. Some even end up switching parties or dismantling their own legacy. We should never give up hope of change.

No: The public does not like its politicians to change too much. Michael Portillo went from hardline conservative to social liberal, and it ended his career. From another viewpoint, change looks like inconsistency or cowardice.

Or... Politicians change in small ways all the time. Johnson himself has morphed from a liberal Mayor of London into an authoritarian prime minister. But big shifts in their character are much rarer.