Boris Johnson claims naughtiest thing he's ever done is ride his bike on the pavement

8 December 2019, 10:01

Boris Johnson has admitted he "hasn't always obeyed the law" when asked about the naughtiest thing he's ever done.

Speaking to Sophy Ridge on Sunday, the prime minister said the naughtiest thing he was "prepared to admit" was ridding his bicycle on the pavement.

He had previously been asked the question before, and replied: "If I can think of some answer about the naughtiest thing I've ever done that is both interesting and not terminally politically damaging, I will try and provide it."

Much has been made of Mr Johnson's past record, which has included being sacked as a Times journalist for making up a quote and lying to then-Tory leader Michael Howard about his affair with journalist Petronella Wyatt - another decision that saw him sacked, this time from his role as a shadow minister.

When asked again today, he exclaimed: "Oh no not this again," before trying to give the excuse

"Ive been so busy trying to Brexit done.

He then turned to his aides asking what the naughtiest thing they've ever seen him do before coughing up a confession of having cycled on the pavement in the past.

The Conservative Party leader said: "I think I may sometimes, how can I put this, I may sometimes when I was riding a bicycle every day - which I used to do - I may sometimes have not always obeyed the law about cycling on the pavement.

"But I want you to know how firmly and strongly I disapprove of people who cycle on the pavement and I think it's wrong and I feel bad about it but I might sometimes have scooted up onto the pavement rather than dismounting before."

Asked if that was actually the naughtiest thing he had ever done, he replied: "No, no, it was a very careful rubric. What you said was the naughtiest thing that I was prepared to admit..."

The same question brought one of the stand-out moments of the 2017 election campaign when Theresa May said her naughtiest moment was running through fields of wheat on local farms when she was growing up.

The answer was widely mocked and commentators used it to show how uncomfortable Mrs May was at being the focal point of a general election campaign.

Labour's Jeremy Corbyn was asked a different version of the question by ITV's Julie Etchingham last week when she quizzed him on what the "most romantic sort of wild and reckless thing you've ever done" was.

Mr Corbyn replied: "You can't ask that question on television!", before admitting it was "wonderful holidays" with his wife, Laura Alvarez.