LONDON: High-profile London mayor Boris Johnson’s hopes of becoming Britain’s next prime minister and leader of the ruling Conservative Party have suffered a setback after a faltering TV interview, allies and detractors said yesterday.
Known for his blunt but colourful language and unruly mop of blond hair, Johnson, 48, is widely tipped as a front-runner to succeed Prime Minister David Cameron at the helm of the Conservatives if Cameron loses the next general election in 2015 or is ousted as party leader before then.
But Johnson, who is famously self-confident, lost his composure in a BBC TV interview on Sunday when faced with a series of difficult questions about his past. Local media described the embarrassing exchange as a “car crash” and as his worst ever interview.
Instead of displaying his trademark self-assurance, Johnson struggled to respond, stammered, and asked the presenter more than once whether they could talk about something else.
“You’re a nasty piece of work, aren’t you?” the presenter told Johnson, after alleging that he had once made up a quote when working as a journalist, lied about his personal life, and been complicit in plans to physically assault a journalist.
“Interpretations you’re putting on those things aren’t wholly fair,” a shell-shocked Johnson retorted.
Voters “don’t care about phone conversations with my friends 20 years ago, they don’t care about some ludicrous so-called made-up quote,” he said.
REUTERS
