What Boris Johnson's forgotten novel says about the UK's likely leader

In Seventy-Two Virgins, the political message at times seems at odds with Johnson's right-wing politics

In 2004, years before he was poised to become Britain’s next prime minister, Boris Johnson published Seventy-Two Virgins. His novel, which has sold more than 46,000 copies according to Nielsen Book Research, is a farce about a terrorist plot to assassinate America’s president during a state visit to Britain, featuring a contest reminiscent of reality television, much talk of buxom women and occasional mocking of Britain’s welfare policies.

Reviewers called it everything from an “effortlessly brilliant page-turner” to “not quite a novel”. But it was most noted for its hero, Roger Barlow, a member of Britain’s parliament.

Barlow is bumbling and gaffe-prone,