Boris Johnson: Trending quotes (page 5)

“There was a young fellow from Ankara
Who was a terrific wankerer
Till he sowed his wild oats
With the help of a goat
But he didn’t even stop to thankera.”

Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson wins The Spectator’s President Erdogan Offensive Poetry competition, 18 May 2016. http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2016/05/boris-johnson-wins-the-spectators-president-erdogan-offensive-poetry-competition/
2010s, 2016

Help

“My chances of being PM are about as good as the chances of finding Elvis on Mars, or my being reincarnated as an olive.”

Boris Johnson

"You ask the questions", The Independent, 17 June 2004, p. 7.
Asked "Admit it: you want to become prime minister, don't you?" by Amanda Findlay of Bolton.
2000s, 2004

Chance

“But here's old Ken - he's been crass, he's been insensitive and thuggish and brutal in his language - but I don't think actually if you read what he said, although it was extraordinary and rude, I don't think he was actually anti-Semitic.”

Boris Johnson

"Quotes of the Day", The Times, 18 February 2005, p. 2.
2000s, 2005

Thinking , Reading

“I think I was once given cocaine but I sneezed so it didn't go up my nose. In fact, it may have been icing sugar.”

Boris Johnson

"Londoner's Diary", Evening Standard, 17 October 2005, p. 15.
2000s, 2005

Thinking

“Voting Tory will cause your wife to have bigger breasts and increase your chances of owning a BMW M3.”

Boris Johnson

Francis Elliott, "Boris casts his vote: 'Spectator' editor tells 'Desert Island Discs' he'll quit to spend more time with David Cameron", Independent on Sunday, 30 October 2005, p. 3.
Said in April 2005 during the general election.
2000s, 2005

Chance

“I just say to everybody in the country, including everyone in Parliament, the fundamental choice is this: Are you going to side with Jeremy Corbyn and those who want to cancel the referendum? Are you going to side with those who want to scrub the democratic verdict of the people - and plunge this country into chaos. Or are you going to side with those of us who want to get on, deliver the mandate of the people and focus with absolute, laser-like precision on the domestic agenda?”

Boris Johnson

Brexit: Michel Barnier rejects demands for backstop to be axed https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49540681 BBC News (1 September 2019)
2010s, 2019

People , Country

“Under no circumstances would we agree to any free-trade deal that put the NHS on the table.”

Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson: Premiership will be the start of a golden age https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49107417 BBC News (25 July 2019)
2010s, 2019

“We are going to energise the country. We are going to get Brexit done on 31 October and take advantage of all the opportunities it will bring with a new spirit of can do. We are once again going to believe in ourselves, and like some slumbering giant we are going to rise and ping off the guy ropes of self doubt and negativity.”

Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson wins race to be Tory leader and PM https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49084605 BBC News (23 July 2019)
2010s, 2019

Self-confidence , Guy , Country

“If you Brexit sensibly and effectively, you take away so much of the ammunition of the SNP.”

Boris Johnson

Tory leadership: Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt on Scotland https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-48744493 BBC News (27 June 2019)
2010s, 2019

“I believe I am best placed to lift this party, beat Jeremy Corbyn and excite people about conservatism and conservative values.”

Boris Johnson

Tory leadership: Johnson warns party of risk of Brexit 'extinction' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48521389, BBC News, 5 June 2019
2010s, 2019

People

“We need to realise the depth of the problems we face. Unless we get on and do this thing, we will be punished for a very long time. There is a very real choice between getting Brexit done and the potential extinction of this great party.”

Boris Johnson

Tory leadership: Johnson warns party of risk of Brexit 'extinction' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48521389, BBC News, 5 June 2019
2010s, 2019

Problem , Time

“We will leave the EU on 31 October, deal or no deal. The way to get a good deal is to prepare for a no deal.”

Boris Johnson

Source: Tory leadership: Rivals clash over support for no-deal Brexit https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-48403705, BBC News, 25 May 2019

Way

“If you do that you have to answer the question what next? What if the Iranians do rush for a nuclear weapon? Are we seriously saying that we are going to bomb those facilities at Fordo and Natanz? Is that really a realistic possibility? Or do we work round what we have got and push back on Iran together?”

Boris Johnson

Iran nuclear deal: Johnson courts Trump on Fox & Friends https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-44026548, BBC News, 7 May 2018
2010s, 2018

Question

“After we liberate ourselves from the shackles of Brussels we will be able to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs right across the UK.”

Boris Johnson

Source: EU referendum: Kinnock urges young voters to prevent 'Brexit by default' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36447926 BBC News (4 June 2016)

“We will be informed by our most important ally that it is in our interests to stay in the EU, no matter how flawed we may feel that organisation to be. Never mind the loss of sovereignty; never mind the expense and the bureaucracy and the uncontrolled immigration. The American view is very clear.”

Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson urges Obama not to intervene in EU debate https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-35800232 BBC News (14 March 2016)
2010s, 2016

Loss , Feeling

“You look at the plan to increase the efforts to prop up the single currency with an ever denser system of integration, with more and more regulation about all sorts of social and economic issues which will impact directly on this country, I think the risk is increasingly in staying in the project. I think the best thing we can do is show a lead, show an example and strike out for freedom.”

Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson: EU exit 'win-win for us all' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-35783049, BBC News, 11 March 2016
2010s, 2016

Effort , Thinking , Country , Freedom

“Britain is a great nation, a global force for good. It is surely a boon for the world and for Europe that she should be intimately engaged in the EU.”

Boris Johnson

Draft of a pro-EU newspaper column https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/boris-my-case-for-britain-to-stay-in-europe-f7qgrvtps, written before submitting an anti-EU column to the Daily Telegraph, later reproduced in the Sunday Times (February 2016)
2010s, 2016

World

“I have not had an affair with Petronella. It is complete balderdash. It is an inverted pyramid of piffle.”

Boris Johnson

It is all completely untrue and ludicrous conjecture. I am amazed people can write this drivel.
Simon Walters, "Boris, Petsy and a 'pyramid of piffle'", Mail on Sunday, 7 November 2004, p. 7.
Denying accusations of his having an affair with Petronella Wyatt.
2000s, 2004

“We are confident in our story and will be fighting this all the way. I am very sorry that Alastair Campbell has taken this decision but I can see that he got his tits in the wringer.”

Boris Johnson

Catherine Macleod, "Angry Blair takes on press", The Herald (Glasgow), 24 April 2002, p. 1.
On Campbell's negative reply to the Spectator's report that the Government had influence the Queen Mother's funeral arrangements.
2000s, 2002

Confidence , Fight , Self-confidence , Decision

“It is obviously possible to make more money by not being a full-time politician. I don't want to put too fine a point on it, but you have to make sacrifices sometimes.”

Boris Johnson

Conservative Leadership Contest Hustings in Darlington https://twitter.com/Channel4News/status/1147103540827082754 (5 July 2019)
2010s, 2019

Money , Making love , Time