Boris Johnson: Historical Child Abuse Investigation Is "Spaffing Money Up The Wall"

13 March 2019, 11:21 | Updated: 13 September 2019, 15:16

Boris Johnson has said that spending police budgets on historical child abuse is "spaffing money up the wall".

The former Foreign Secretary was responding to a question live on LBC on which he was asked whether cuts to the police service are linked to the rise in violent crime in London.

Mr Johnson insisted that a more sensible use of police budgets was more important - and it was his choice of words which proved most controversial.

He said: "I think an awful lot of money, an awful lot of police time, now goes into these historic offences and all this malarkey and you know £60million I saw has been spaffed up the wall on some investigation into historic child abuse?

"What on earth is that going to do to protect the public now?

Boris Johnson used a controversial phrase when discussing historical sexual abuse
Boris Johnson used a controversial phrase when discussing historical sexual abuse. Picture: LBC

"What the people want is to see officers out on the streets doing what they signed up to do."

Listeners pointed out that he wasn't a stranger to wasting money on projects. One councillor responded:

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