What Boris Johnson's throat gesture live on LBC actually meant

29 November 2019, 11:36 | Updated: 29 November 2019, 11:56

A conspiracy theory about Boris Johnson drawing his finger across his throat has spread across the internet - but the truth is he was simply mimicking Nick Ferrari.

David Lammy is among the people to claim the gesture, caught on camera when the Prime Minister was discussing social care, showed he was telling the presenter to move on to another topic.

The conspiracy theory spread fast across social media.

But what he was actually doing was copying the signal that Nick was giving to his producer. In the video below, you can clearly see Nick's hands wildly moving in the bottom corner of the screen.

Shortly after the incident, Mr Johnson noticed the gesture on a TV in the studio and commented live on air: "The reason I was momentarily distracted is because I was looking at the TV screen and there was a picture of me drawing my hand across my throat.

"But that was only because I was imitating you.

"I was suddenly mystified to see this picture of myself."

Nick accepted the blame: "I know. Someone was talking in my ear. We now have throatgate.

"It was aping my signal which was telling someone in a rather brutal fashion to be quiet!"

Labour MPs David Lammy and Liam Byrne soon deleted their conspiracy theory tweets about the topic.