When Boris Johnson got married in John Biffen's trousers

The death of John Biffen the other day reminded me of this passage in Andrew Gimson's biography of Boris Johnson:

He also arrived for his own wedding without the right clothes. As Allegra said, after relating the story of the ring: "What's more, he was wearing John Biffen's trousers at the time ... Some weeks later I had to send the mo rtgagees our wedding certificate, but it was nowhere to be found. Naturally Bozzer showed not the slightest interest. Months later the Biffens were much amused to find the missing document in the pocket of the famous trousers."

When Lady Biffen was reminded that Boris got married in her husband's trousers, she replied with indignation: "And in his cufflinks, and the reason he didn't get married in my husband's shoes is that his feet were larger - he would have limped to the altar, which would have been worse than the holes in the soles of his own shoes."

As I said when first recommending Gimson's book, Boris Johnson does not emerge from it as the lovable buffoon he is usually painted as.