There's a venerable tradition of writing an essay with the intention of attempting to understand a topic. People can misinterpret it; when deciding whether to support 'remain' or 'leave' in the Brexit referendum, Boris Johnson wrote two essays, each steelmanning one particular point of view. Somehow, the 'remain' essay was leaked later on, leading to the accusation that he didn't believe in the cause he was espousing. I can't think of a better way to decide a personal position on a tough topic though.
Essay can literally mean "attempt": https://www.etymonline.com/word/essay
cf. [Montaigne](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essays_(Montaigne))
BoJo is a well-established liar, manipulator, and narcissist, so in his case it's natural to suspect duplicity.
His sister wrote an article where she describes reading both columns at the time and recently rereading them both: https://www.newsbreak.com/the-independent-517119/47045597742...
Her take on his motivations are nuanced and compelling imo:
> It was not so much indecision; it was anxiety about being disloyal to his boss. It was also anxiety about advocating a course of action that could hole the good ship Britannia below the waterline unless some rapid free-trade agreements were struck