Boris Johnson has a Muslim Great-grandfather From Turkey

By Muhammad YaseenPublished On 04 Jan 2023

We’re down to just two in the race to become the next leader of the Conservative Party.

Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt will set out on the campaign trail to convince party members they’re the right man for the job.

But earlier this month, a quintet of hopefuls sat down for a televised debate, hosted by Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis.

Boris Johnson – at the time the front runner for the post – came under much scorn, particularly on the issue of Islamophobia, with previous comments made by the former Mayor of London coming under the spotlight.

Johnson was challenged by Abdullah, an imam from Bristol, on whether he accepted that his “words have consequences”, to which Boris said his comments were sometimes taken out of context.

But perhaps the most surprising revelation for casual viewers came when Johnson brought up his Muslim great grandfather, saying he came to Britain because it was “a beacon of generosity and openness”.

It was surprising for many reasons (not least because Johnson has previously compared Muslim women in burqas to “letterboxes”), so just who is this mysterious great-grandfather?

Who was Ali Kemal?

Johnson’s paternal great-grandfather was Ali Kemal, a journalist for the Ottoman Empire who worked mainly in the region that is now Turkey.

Born in 1867 to a mother of Circassian heritage (a region along the northeast shore of the Black Sea), Kemal’s journalism allowed him to travel extensively and took him to many countries.

One of his destinations was Switzerland, where he met Winifred Brun, an Anglo-Swiss woman and the daughter of a Margaret Johnson. They married in London in 1903.

How is he related to Boris Johnson?

During the First World War, the Ottoman Empire was allied with Germany, and so Kemal’s son and daughter – who were living in England – adopted their maternal grandmother’s maiden name of Johnson.

Kemal’s son Wilfred Johnson (going by his middle name) married Irene Williams, and their son was Stanley Johnson, Boris’ father.

Johnson’s heritage is not exactly hidden; in 2008 he took part in the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? series, unearthing his lineage for the first time. For more latest news Pakistan, visit 9newshd.tv