Boris Johnson just claimed he thinks the UK would be “better off” if he was still in No.10 Downing Street.
Speaking on Fox News’ podcast, The Untold Story, the former prime minister seemed to forget how he had to step down after a mass exodus of Tories from his own government and resigned as an MP when a report found he had deliberately misled parliament over partygate.
Although he did acknowledge this was not the “universal view” in London, the ex-PM suggested “of course” he thinks a prolonged Johnson premiership would have helped the UK.
Presenter Martha MacCallum asked him: “What do you think about prime minister Keir Starmer? What do you think about the strength of the UK right now?”
Johnson began: “The UK is a P5 country [a member of the UN’s security council] where...”
Then he hesitated, and interrupted himself with a different take: “Obviously I think things would have been better off if I had better running the show, of course I think that!
“But we’re still the fourth biggest exporter in the world, the second biggest exporter of financial services, we’re a huge economy, we have more no.1 hits in the US hit parade, than in billboard top 100, than in any other country!
“We’re doing great, we could be doing better in my view, if I was back in charge, but that’s my personal view, but that’s not necessarily the universal view back here in London, sadly.
“That is definitely my view. We just need to get a bit more of our mojo back.”
He moved on to criticising Starmer by listing off some of the backlash the new prime minister has faced in his first three months of government.
Johnson particularly focused on the freebies row, where it was revealed Labour donor Lord Alli paid for Starmer’s glasses – along with some accommodation and other clothing – and was then granted an all-access No.10 pass.
“To take the spectacles was greedy, to then give the guy a pass was corrupt and I don’t understand it,” Johnson claimed.
The former PM actually had a similar scandal break while he was in office, called wallpapergate – Tory donors covered the cost of the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat, although the ensuing backlash meant Johnson ended up paying it back.
Asked if he wanted to return to parliament – and “it sounds like you do,” the journalist added – Johnson just said: “I’m living a life of blissful rustic obscurity, writing books.”
The former prime minister has been speaking to international media almost every day for the last week in an effort to promote his new memoir, Unleashed.
He has made headlines for repeating Donald Trump’s claim that the ex-president would have stopped the Ukraine war, saying he regrets apologising over partygate and for struggling to respond to questions over the infamous Brexit bus.