Boris is back The former UK prime minister is out of office, but has more to say than ever before.

Boris Johnson looks happy. His smile is wider than usual, the trademark grin in full swing, and the legendary hair in full flow.

"I'm enjoying life. A lot," he says.

Johnson has a lot to be happy about. Since stepping down as UK Prime Minister just under three years ago, the legendary politician looks and sounds like a man reborn. A big draw on the international speaking circuit, a best-selling autobiography, and his views on the Ukraine crisis still of great value to all the parties involved. Wherever you look on the global business and political stage, chances are you will see Johnson.

We meet at the Sofitel Hotel in Dubai's Palm Jumeirah, where Johnson is the guest of honour at the Legends of Entrepreneurship gala dinner. Having crisscrossed the globe several times in recent months, Johnson has been given a front row seat to the latest global developments. And he is in zero doubt where the serious action lies right now.

"One word. America," he says.

But before explaining, he is quick to point out that the UAE is one of the many beneficiaries of the current UK brain drain.

"This (Dubai) is fast becoming the number one haven for brilliant people from all around the world. Especially British people. The sad truth is they are fleeing my country in the kind of brain drain we have not seen since the 1970s. They are fleeing the great terror of a Labour government. They are getting to Heathrow and boarding Emirates flights to Dubai with the first-class cabin and jacuzzi and showers. Dubai is now officially the 20^th biggest British city in the world. There are 245,000 Brits here – that's more than in Wolverhampton, where I used to live," he says.

Johnson is particularly unhappy with the UK's decline given his role in building it, especially London where he was elected mayor for eight years from 2008. He is quick to point out that during that time, the murder rate fell by over 30 per cent in London. He cut crime by over one quarter. He cut tax by 10 per cent keeping money in people's pockets.

When Johnson was Mayor of London, the number of people in work rose by 20 per cent in the capital. When he left office, employment in London had never been higher – at 4.481 million in May 2016, up from 3.835 million in May 2008 .

By the time he left office, the unemployment rate had reached its lowest since records began. In May 2016, the unemployment rate was 5.7 per cent which, at the time, was the lowest rate of unemployment in London since records began in 1992. There were 303,100 apprenticeship starts under Boris Johnson's time as Mayor of London.

His other big, often understated achievement was in housing: He delivered over 100,000 affordable homes, designated 31 new Housing Zones, creating 77,000 homes, 34 per cent of which will be affordable.

"That is why I led an enormous programme of regeneration with my 31 housing zones that will transform communities across London, creating nearly 80,000 new homes, plus new transport hubs and schools," he says.

Also under his leadership, the London 2012 Olympics were delivered on time and under budget. The cost of the London Olympics and Paralympics was £528 million less than expected. He secured a lasting legacy from London 2012, meaning all Londoners benefited from the games. In just 18 months, the Olympic Park was transformed into the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, a vibrant hub in east London where millions of people now live, work and visit every year.

Thanks to his legacy planning, the Olympic stadium re-opened a year earlier than planned and now plays host to major international events. But if the glory days bring back the fire in his eyes, so does the current state of play – and Johnson's anger that the US is now leading the way.

"Somehow, we are not producing the same kind of entrepreneurs as in the US. They are producing giants of capitalism. When you look at the US it's like looking at a forest of 500m redwood trees. At Trump's inauguration event I saw a guy called Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. What is it about America? It's a very important question for the whole world," he says, adding: "What is it about America that gives birth to such people? All these guys, they simply wanted to satisfy some sort of consumer desire, and they ended up each of them, being so bold and so original that they changed the way we shop, move around, communicate, think, the way we exist. And they did by trial and error, and they did it by private enterprise," he says.

Johnson then cites a story about Jeff Bezos and how he showed incredible resilience to come back from adversity and defeat.

"When I was there, I asked Jeff about his early days at Amazon. He told me he was sitting on the floor packing the cardboard boxes himself with books. The book shops would not do single deliveries and so he came up with a brilliant idea. He placed the order for the book the customer wanted then bulked it out with titles that were out of print. So, what would happen is the bookstores would get this order for 5 books but the others were not available, so they would send the only one they had. Genius. Jeff never looked back."

He adds: "We have to marvel at what these Americans do and how they come up with these ideas and pursue them and turn them into world changing businesses. You inhale optimism as soon as you arrive there and absolute refusal to give up and be defeated."

Given Johnson's own roller coaster ride on the global political stage in the past two decades, it's fair to say the same about him.