Sales of Johnson's memoir slow despite '£2m advance'

Sales of Boris Johnson’s political memoir are understood to have slumped well below expectations, with the much-advertised release now on track to be overtaken by a cookbook.

- ATHENA STAVROU

Despite an apparent £2m advance on the 784-page account of his time in Downing Street, Unleashed only managed to sell 42,528 copies in its opening week, far fewer than his publishers, HarperCollins, had predicted.

The former prime minister suffered a 62 per cent reduction in his sales lead this week, narrowly managing to cling onto the number one spot, selling just 133 more copies than Tim Spector’s The Food for Life Cookbook. Mr Johnson’s sales figures fall far short of predecessors Margaret Thatcher, who sold an estimated 120,000 copies upon the release of her 1993 memoir, and Tony Blair, who sold 92,000 copies in the first week of his.

Despite the barrage of press attention, the book’s lacklustre reception has reportedly left shops with “piles and piles” of copies, and sales figures are likely to continue to plummet.

Speaking on his podcast The Rest Is Entertainment, Richard Osman said: “Well, we said last week that Blair sold 92,000, Thatcher sold 120,000, that Mr Johnson had had a £2m advance, so he would need to sell probably nearer that Thatcher figure.