Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is rarely stuck for words.
After all, this is a man who referred to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as a “mutton-headed old mugwump.”
However, the Foreign Secretary was mostly definitely tongue-tied during a radio interview on Wednesday afternoon.
Johnson was a guest on Eddie Mair’s show on BBC Radio 4, and had trouble with some basic questions about the Queen’s speech, which had been delivered earlier in the day.
Mair asked:
“What does this Queen’s speech do to ensure the criminal justice system stops treating black people more harshly than white?”
To which Boris replied:
“Well, there are measures, I believe, in the Bill on the courts, which I believe is supposed to address some of those issues… and I think one thing in particular that we are looking at is… hang on a second.”
Johnson could then be heard shuffling papers in the background.
People are saying the same thing about the Queen's hat during her speech https://t.co/0mdS7sgxxN
— JOE (@JOE_co_uk) June 21, 2017
He was then asked:Â “What does this Queen’s speech do to help white working class boys go to university?”
And again Johnson mumbled his way through his answer. It continued like this for 10 excruciating minutes. At one point, the Foreign Secretary was asked the most basic question: “What’s the point of the Prime Minister?”
“The point of the Prime Minister is to lead the country, to give a… lead on these key issues… and to take this Queen’s speech through. And she will, and she will do a great job.”
You can listen to a part of the interview here:
The worst interview from an aspiring Prime Minister you will ever hear. Boris Johnson is finished. Listen to this… pic.twitter.com/P82WOsqdNR
— Tory Fibs (@ToryFibs) June 21, 2017
And the full interview here:
Some compared it to Dianne Abbott’s interview before the general election, which was criticised by Tories before the Labour MP later attributed her performance to her Type 2 Diabetes.
The reaction online to Johnson’s interview wasn’t positive at all.
https://twitter.com/iainlee/status/877563581557989376
Boris Johnson's bumbling clown persona is a joke that stopped being funny yrs ago. He's a disaster of a human being https://t.co/Pw0G9CNxiD
— Nooruddean (@BeardedGenius) June 21, 2017
https://twitter.com/MattTurner4L/status/877611073876238336
https://twitter.com/vythes/status/877620290896908289
Anyone hear that Boris Johnson interview today? Fucking hell man. That's the foreign secretary! Massive bumbling bucket of tits.
— Taylor Payne (@TaylorandPayne) June 21, 2017
Oh my word…just caught up with Boris Johnson Radio 4 interview! That was some car crash – jeez!!!
— Suzanne Whaley 🇺🇦 (@suzartravel) June 21, 2017
You'd think Boris Johnson would realise by now that Eddie Mair can completely take him down… https://t.co/T7bAcNX3FW
— Rosamund Urwin (@RosamundUrwin) June 21, 2017
If Boris Johnson was a black woman, he'd be absolutely crucified in the most personal, vicious way possible for that BBC interview.
— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) June 21, 2017
https://twitter.com/youngian67/status/877564470779707392
