Boris Johnson’s 50 lies, gaffes and scandals as PM's future hangs in the balance
| Published date | 22 January 2022 |
| Publication title | Daily Mirror, The: Web Edition Articles (London, England) |
Top civil servant Sue Gray is expected to deliver her report next week after gathering evidence on a string of potentially rule-breaking gatherings.
The PM has begged MPs to wait for the results of her probe as he tried to wriggle out of censure -despite admitting to the Commons that he briefly attended a "BYOB" drinks party in the Downing Street garden in May 2020.
His former aide Dominic Cummings has openly accused him of lying to MPs over his claim he was not warned about the event.
Tory anger boiled over when it emerged that two leaving drinks had been held in No 10 on the eve of Prince Phillip's funeral in April 2021, which the PM did not attend.
Speculation has mounted over a potential leadership contest, with feverish chatter about how many letters of no confidence have been submitted to the Tory 1922 Committee.
As MPs return to their constituencies this weekend to plot their next moves, we have compiled a list of his gaffes, lies and scandals in case they need help making their minds up.
Some are harmless, or even funny. Others have raised questions about his integrity and his fitness to govern.
1. When he was sacked for making up a quote
The Times sacked Boris Johnson in 1988 for making up a quote in a front-page story.
The then-journalist, aged 23, fabricated a claim by his godfather, academic Colin Lucas, that Edward II and his lover Piers Gaveston would have cavorted in a newly-discovered Rose Palace.
In what he later called “my biggest cock-up”, it emerged the Palace was only built long after Gaveston was murdered.
Rather than admit his lie Mr Johnson wrote a further story saying “the mystery had deepened”. He then admitted in 2013: “I mildly sandpapered something somebody said, and yes it’s very embarrassing and I’m very sorry about it.”
2. When he was sacked for lying about an affair
In 2004 he was sacked as Shadow Arts Minister after aides to leader Michael Howard decided he had lied about an affair.
Mr Johnson denied reports of a four-year fling with journalist Petronella Wyatt, saying: “I have not had an affair with Petronella. It is complete balderdash.”
But her mother said the affair did happen -and Petronella had an abortion as a result.
Lady Verushka Wyatt added: “The reason she went out with him was because he said he was going to marry her.” Ms Wyatt admits the pair had a “tendresse”.
Michael Howard added: “My director of communications at the time was convinced Boris had lied to him.”
3. When he discussed having a journalist beaten up
Boris Johnson had a 1990 phone call with former Eton pal Darius Guppy, who was jailed for five years in 1993 for his part in an insurance fraud.
Mr Guppy wanted contact details for News of the World journalist Stuart Collier, who was investigating his affairs.
Asked by Mr Johnson “how badly are you going to hurt this guy”, he replied the journalist “will not be seriously hurt” but “will probably get a couple of black eyes and... a cracked rib.”
Mr Johnson could be heard seeking assurances he would not get in "trouble" before saying: "OK, Darrie, I said I'll do it."
No attack ever took place and Mr Johnson said in 2013 he was just “humouring” his old pal.
4. When he endangered a British mum jailed in Iran
Boris Johnson worsened the plight of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in loose comments he made as Foreign Secretary in 2017.
He wrongly told MPs the British mum, held in Iran on spying charges, was “teaching people journalism”.
That undermined her defence that she was on holiday -one backed up by her employers.
Four days after Mr Johnson’s comments she was threatened with five more years’ jail on charges of “propaganda against the regime”.
5. When he called black people 'piccaninnies'
He wrote in the Telegraph in 2002: "It is said that the Queen has come to love the Commonwealth, partly because it supplies her with regular cheering crowds of flag-waving piccaninnies."
Speaking of Tony Blair ’s trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo, he said: “No doubt the AK47s will fall silent, and the pangas will stop their hacking of human flesh.
“And the tribal warriors will all break out in watermelon smiles to see the big white chief touch down in his big white British taxpayer-funded bird.”
Mr Johnson later defended his comments, branding them “wholly satirical”.
6. When he mocked Muslim women as 'letterboxes'
In August 2018 he branded Muslim face veils “oppressive”, “weird and bullying” and said it was “absolutely ridiculous that people should choose to go around looking like letterboxes."
Any female student who turned up to school "looking like a bank robber" should be asked to remove their face covering, he added.
He went on to argue against banning the burqa in public, but his snide remarks prompted outrage, including from senior Tories.
He refused to apologise and was cleared of breaching the Conservative Party code of conduct.
7. When he used racist terms to describe Barack Obama
Mr Johnson used a racist description of Barack Obama at the height of the EU referendum in 2016.
He claimed a bust of Winston Churchill in the Oval Office had been removed around the time the US President moved in.
He remarked: “Some said it was a symbol of the part-Kenyan President's ancestral dislike of the British Empire, of which Churchill had been such a fervent defender." Those condemning his “nasty” comments included Winston Churchill’s Tory grandson.
Barack Obama -who was born in the US -revealed he had actually moved the bust to a prime spot outside his private office, saying: "I love Winston Churchill. Love the guy."
8. When he propagated the £350m-a-week Brexit lie
Boris Johnson was a figurehead of the 2016 Vote Leave campaign, fuelling their lie that the UK sent the EU £350million a week.
He rode the infamous battle bus emblazoned with the figure and appeared in front of a banner that said: “Let’s give our NHS the £350million the EU takes every week.”
The UK Statistics Authority said the figure was £285m a week, without factoring EU payments to the UK. With only the most basic EU payments directly to the UK public sector factored in, that dropped to £190m.
He carried on using the debunked figure for more than a year and was accused of a “clear misuse of official statistics” by the data watchdog.
9. When he repeatedly ignored conflict-of-interest rules
Boris Johnson broke rules on financial interests three times in less than a year. He breached the Ministerial Code in August 2018 by starting a £275,000-a-year newspaper column just three days after quitting as Foreign Secretary.
In December 2018 he was ordered to apologise for failing to declare £52,723 of income on time.
And in April 2019 he was 11 months late registering his 20% share in a property in Somerset.
Parliament’s Standards Commissioner accused him of a “lack of respect” for the system adding: "I do not accept that this was an inadvertent breach of the rules."
10. When he blew millions on his Garden Bridge ‘vanity project’
As mayor, Boris Johnson backed a failed plan for a “floating paradise” across the River Thames that blew £43million of public money.
The Garden Bridge was beset by controversy from the start until it was finally scrapped by his successor Sadiq Khan in 2017.
Critics blasted the link for being privately run, yet publicly-subsidised, while there...
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