Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson has cancelled a Melbourne event on his Australian book tour due to unforeseen circumstances, his publicist said.
The cancellation means he will return to the UK earlier than scheduled.
The Melbourne event, part of the promotion for his memoir Unleashed, was set to follow a Sydney programme on Friday.
“Due to unforeseen circumstances, Mr Johnson has to travel back to the UK a day earlier than planned, therefore, regrettably, the Melbourne event has had to be cancelled,” Australian publicist Max Markson said in a statement.
“We wish to apologise for any inconvenience caused, and wish to articulate that all Melbourne tickets are transferable to Sydney, or fully refundable.”
Mr Johnson, 60, had been scheduled to speak at a dinner at Melbourne’s Sofitel hotel on Saturday.
In a video message recently, Mr Johnson said: “I am hugely excited to be travelling to Australia in just a few weeks where I will be having conversations to promote my new book.”
Mr Markson denied that a low demand for tickets was the reason for the cancellation of the event.
The top-tier tickets reportedly cover a three-course meal and a meet-and-greet with Mr Johnson.
The Independent has contacted Mr Markson for further comment about the event’s cancellation.
Mr Johnson led the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022 and served as the UK prime minister during the tumultuous period of Brexit and the Covid pandemic. He stepped down in 2022 amid the “Partygate” scandal, which centred on gatherings at Downing Street that violated strict public health restrictions.
The memoir covers his political career, details the challenges of his premiership and “his role in Brexit” and delves into “all the big decisions and his reasons for taking them”. It also talks about “how he nearly died from Covid”.
The overview of the book says: “As a journalist, he was famed as a blurter of unsayable truths, and he has drawn again on this quality for the book. About people, policies, mistakes and triumphs. This is it – the reality as he saw it: unvarnished, unlocked, unleashed.”
Amazon, which released the book in October, is marketing it as “the political memoir of the century” quoting a review in Daily Mail.
Mr Johnson began his career in journalism, writing for The Times, The Spectator and The Daily Telegraph. In 1987, he was dismissed from The Times for fabricating a quote.
He served as the mayor of London between 2008 and 2016 and as foreign secretary from 2016 to 2018 under Theresa May.
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