Full name: Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson.
Homeland: MP for Henley, 2001 to the present.
Caste: Jolly good, old-fashioned Tory toff.
Religion: low tax, free market, small government.

Key Jobs: EC correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, 1989-1994; Assistant Editor of the Daily Telegraph, 1995 to 1999.

Current Occupation: Boris has more jobs than the average northern mining community. On top of his constituency work, he writes a column for the Daily Telegraph, edits the Spectator, and recently became shadow minister for the arts.

Account And Accountability: Boris is suspicious of the EU. Yet his reasons for this mistrust have more in common with Tony Benn, than Kilroy-Silk. "The problem with the Euro is a problem of democracy and your ability to kick out those who set economic indicators," he explains. "What's the point of electing MPs to set tax rates if they are powerless because decisions are being taken in Brussels or Frankfurt?" (Intelligence Squared debate, November 2002).

A Man Of Substance: Boris' ideas have a considered and constructive air, often absent in other opposition policies. He criticised the downgrading of cannabis to class C because he felt the move would send out mixed signals about the legal situation (Telegraph, 11/07/02). Despite his opposition to the Euro, his 'no' does not necessarily mean 'never'. Instead, he argues it is in Britain's economic interests to "put this [decision] off to your children or your grandchildren". What's more, Europe does not dominate his political outlook; he supported Ken Clarke as the best man for the party leadership in 2001. It is important he has substantive policies, if only because he attacks both Labour – "all spin and no substance" – and the Liberal Democrats – "a void within a vacuum surrounded by a vast inanition" – for lacking them.

Cry Freedom: Boris is a big believer in small government. "If there is one theme on which the party can unite, it is liberty," he argues. "The freedom to educate your children where you choose; the freedom to run your own country without interference from abroad; and the freedom, in general, to get on with your life, whether you are a foxhunter or a homosexual or both, without being bossed around by the Government" (Telegraph, 4/11/99). True to this philosophy, he voted against requiring faith schools to take a quota of pupils from other backgrounds, and for fox hunting to continue.

Everybody's Welcome At The Party: Unlike certain other high-ranking Tories, Boris's belief in freedom extends into social matters. He claimed "the Tories have weaned themselves off the loony prejudice of the 1980s" (Telegraph, 06/10/02) and said that "no sane person is homophobic, not least because the more homosexuals there are, the more chance we ill-favoured brutes have in the great competition of life" (Telegraph, 27/01/01). He is also in favour of making the party more representative by "encouraging female candidates, even to the point of all-women shortlists" (Telegraph, 09/10/03).

Work It Baby, Hard: Boris is one of the hardest working men in Westminster: he does, after all, have three and a bit jobs. And this could be the reason why he voted against changing House of Commons procedures to work more sociable hours.

Beating Around The Bush: Call us partisan, but Political Judge cannot help but have a soft spot for anyone that is suspicious of George W. Bush. "There is his protectionism," begins a recent rant. "His tariffs against British steel were monstrous. His use of agricultural subsidy has been disgraceful." He goes on to call the treatment of Guantanamo Bay prisoners "a gross and indefensible abuse by a government that was supposed to be preaching habeas corpus and human rights to Iraq." It is only at the end of his column that he admits a more personal reason for this distrust: "It sticks in the craw to hear him endlessly lauding the Labour leader, and saying what a hell of a fellow he is" (Telegraph, 23/06/04).

Post-natal Appetite: Boris's experiences of fatherhood helped him come up with an idea for optional NHS top-up fees to pay for extra services. "When mothers give birth to children, as they do from time to time, and the NHS offers you toast and the father happens to swipe the toast when the mother is resting, why can't it now be possible for another couple of rounds to be bought?" (BBC, 3/10/00). Who said you cannot improve vital public services without increasing tax?

Work For No One But Me: Boris is a fan of low-tax, arguing that "if you let people get on with their lives, and develop their potential, you will generate the wealth society will always need to pay for the poorest and neediest" (Telegraph, 09/10/03). However, his reasons are not entirely altruistic, as he rather condescendingly notes he wants to be able to "send his children to anywhere other than an Islington sink school." He also complains: "There are far too many feral children running around because there are far too few police on our streets" (BBC News, 03/10/00). We are still waiting to hear his plan to fund better state schools and more police with lower taxes.

The Limits Of Freedom: Boris's policies do not always uphold his love of freedom. He opposed a fully appointed House of Lords, but failed to vote for an elected one. Despite his dislike of homophobia, he claims to be "more than happy to support Section 28, particularly if it stops local authorities wasting money on broadly disgusting extra-curricular pamphlets called Jenny Lives With Eric and Martin (Telegraph, 27/01/00). And he supports the creation of a national Christian radio station. But surely, in a free market, if people wanted one, it would already exist. Surely, creating one would be tantamount to government interference.

War Games: Despite his misgivings over both Bush and Blair, Boris supported the invasion of Iraq. He voted with the government against the Labour rebels' anti-war motion and the Liberal Democrat measure that would have required UN sanction for the war. He even noted that one of Bush's good points was having "the guts to remove two murderous regimes" (Telegraph, 23/06/04).

Who Is A Naughty Boy Then: Boris has a habit of getting himself into trouble. In 2000, his friend Darius Guppy, a convicted fraudster, asked him for the address of a New of the World reporter, making it clear that he wanted to beat the journalist up. Although it never came to fisticuffs – he could not find the information – Boris replied, "Okay Darrie, I said I'll do it and I'll do it" (BBC News, 23/07/00).

Three years later, the Spectator was the subject of a police investigation for inciting racial hatred, after it printed a column that said Enoch Powell's "rivers of blood" speech was prophetic. Metropolitan Police Authority Member Peter Herbert asked "for some inquiry including the possibility of criminal proceedings against the editor Boris Johnson for aiding and abetting what would appear to be a persistent citing of race hate on the website" (BBC News, 27/02/03).

Most recently, Boris clashed horns with Number 10 when the Spectator printed a conversation between Boris and Downing Street Chief of Staff Jonathan Powell. According to Boris, Powell said that Gordon Brown "is never going to be Prime Minister". Number 10, surprisingly, denies the conversation ever took place (BBC News, 03/06/04).

The Other Evil Empire: Occasionally, Boris's Euroscepticism spills into paranoia. After arguing that state funding of the BBC contravenes EU competition law, he wondered "if the BBC's decidedly gentle approach to matters such as the single European currency may be linked to some deep cultural awareness on the part of these 20,000 journalists that they depend for their very existence on the leniency of Brussels" (BBC News, 15/01/02). Political Judge suspects the contents of the Treaty of Rome rarely come up in BBC editorial meetings.

One Of Them: Boris believes he has been the victim of prejudice. The BBC fired him from his presenter job on BBC Radio 4's The Week in Westminster because of "vocal correctness" – his plummy tones were said to jar with the audience (BBC News, 08/10/99).

Give That Man A Coconut: When a guest on Have I Got News for You in 1998, Boris complained that the show was fully scripted and rehearsed. But, when he acted as guest presenter four years later, Boris found himself eating his words: "I'd now like to complain in the strongest possible terms that it isn't". Luckily, his complete lack of knowledge of popular culture redeemed his performance.

One Man Cult: Appearances on shows like Have I Got News For You and Room 101 have made Boris one of the most popular Tories in Britain. These days, Boriswatch tracks his performance. And at last autumn's anti-Bush rally, among the Socialists, Marxists and Trots, a group handed out leaflets entitled "Vote Boris for PM!" and adorned with the slogan "think tea – think biscuits".

Daddy Dearest: Boris's mystique has spread to his family. His father Stanley Johnson, a Europhile ex-Tory MEP with a notable resemblance to his offspring, was a guest on Have I Got News last May, presumably to boost his attempt to follow his son to Westminster. Whether Stanley's argument that "if the Conservative Party is going to be inclusive, it shouldn't reject elderly white males like me" will wash remains to be seen. But he has at least one supporter: "Any seat would be mad not to take him – he's a terrific chap," says his son (BBC News, 23/01/04).

This Court believes Boris Johnson to be a nice sort of chap. His vague resemblance to a confused teddy bear disguises a razor sharp intellect, capable of producing intelligent argument and substantive policy – even if he does relate his ideas to grilled bread products.

However, in the present climate, the Conservative party needs more than a cuddly impression of an idiot savant to sell itself. Boris's tax policies inevitably lead one to wonder what he would do to public services, and his belief in freedom seems to stop the moment he finds something distasteful.

You have heard the evidence from both sides. It is now the responsibility of you, the Jury, to pass verdict on the accused. His fate is in your hands.

Born in New York on 19 June 1964 and educated at Eton, Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson studied classics as Brackenbury scholar at Balliol College, Oxford. In 1983, he became president of the Oxford Union debating society, a role previously held by other leading Tories including Harold MacMillan, Edward Heath and William Hague.

He began his journalistic career as a trainee reporter for The Times in 1987. After stints as EC Correspondent and assistant editor of the Daily Telegraph, he became editor of the Spectator in 1999. His political career began when he failed to be elected Conservative MP for Clwyd South in 1997. Three years later, he won the nomination for Michael Heseltine's constituency, the safe Conservative seat of Henley, by impressing the selection committee with his proposals to employ the private sector to deal with the toast shortage in the NHS.

Boris was elected with 46.1 per cent of the vote in 2001. In May 2004, he was appointed to the front bench as Shadow Minister for the Arts, but remains a political commentator and editor. He lives in London with his wife and children, and can often be seen cycling between his home in Islington and Westminster.