Boris Johnson, the United Kingdom’s probable next prime minister, will likely end four decades of sending career diplomats to be the ambassador to Washington. Doing so will break the long shadow of a scandal that inspired a Hollywood tale of romance and betrayal.
The Trumpian populist could bolster an already warm relationship with President Trump by picking an envoy unlike the ousted ambassador Kim Darroch, who is packing his bags after leaks showed he privately disparaged Trump. But the move would be a historical break.
The last noncareer ambassador arrived in Washington in 1977 and left two years later after fathering a love child.
Just 40 years old when he was sent to Washington, the exploits of Ambassador Peter Jay and his wife Margaret helped inspire the 1986 film Heartburn starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson.
Jay received his job from his father-in-law James Callaghan, the Labor Party prime minister, in an appointment criticized as a glaring example of nepotism. The assignment was cut short by Conservative Margaret Thatcher’s 1979 victory, and he returned to Britain to work as a journalist.
While supporting the special relationship in Washington, the husband and wife pursued their own special relationships with others.
Margaret Callaghan had a high-profile alleged affair with Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein, appearing openly with him at parties, according to news reports. Bernstein’s wife at the time, author Nora Ephron, penned a loosely fictionalized burn book, the 1983 novel Heartburn, recounting a socially elite Washington couple whose marriage tragically implodes over the husband’s adultery.
Ephron is best known as a screenwriter of films When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle. Heartburn became a film in 1986 with Streep and Nicholson and featured the Carly Simon hit song Coming Around Again.
The then-ambassador was carrying on an affair of his own, impregnating his children’s young nanny.
Jane Tustian, by then 33, went public in January 1984, saying she was unable to support Jay’s 3-year-old son on her own.
“I have kept my silence until now because I was happy to be his housekeeper,” she said. “Nicholas and I were fed, clothed and had a roof over our heads … I am tired of living a lie and I decided to make this public because I cannot support myself.”
The nanny had been dating Jay’s chauffeur.
The former ambassador and his wife divorced in 1986. Not quite ruined by the scandal, she became a member of the House of Lords, and he became economics editor at the BBC.
Johnson, himself known as “a dog” among Brits, hasn’t said who he may name to replace Darroch, but a Conservative ally, Member of Parliament Liz Truss, hinted this week at a new direction.
“It’s a dead duck, so we now need a fresh approach, it’s more urgent than ever before,” Truss said.
Johnson is separated from his second wife pending a divorce, following routine tabloid reports of affairs with women. He has either five or six children, one the alleged result of a 2009 affair with a property developer’s wife. In 2004, then-Conservative leader Michael Howard fired Johnson from a “shadow minister” position after he reportedly lied about having an affair with a journalist.
