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Boris Johnson accused of embellishing bike theft story

Prime Ministerial hopeful’s remarks during leadership debate fail to stand up to scrutiny

Boris Johnson, who is set to win the Conservative leadership election next week and succeed Theresa May as prime minister, has been accused of embellishing a story about the theft of his bicycle.

The Times reports that during a debate hosted by The Sun and Talk Radio with leadership rival Jeremy Hunt on Monday evening, the pair were asked when they last cried.

Hunt declined to answer, but Johnson, who served as Mayor of London from 2008-16, said he became “lachrymose” – in plainer parlance, tearful – on finding that it had been stolen from outside the Houses of Parliament.

“I had my bike for the whole of my mayoral career,” Johnson said. “It was never nicked during all my time as mayor and I used to chain it up across the whole city. Barely had [his successor as mayor] Sadiq Khan’s reign begun before it was nicked.”

In a swipe at the Labour politician, who has been accused of not doing enough to tackle knife crime, Johnson said: “Anyone who has something they love stolen feels a sense of outrage and injustice.

“That’s another reason we need more police on the streets.”

Except, as The Times points out, the tale doesn’t stand up to close scrutiny.

The newspaper highlighted a column that Johnson wrote in 2014 in which he lamented the demise off the actual bike he had ridden during most of his mayoralty.

“After eight years of uncomplaining service, the venerable steed had charged his last,” he said. “Old Bikey had survived every prang and prangette that goes with urban commuting. No one had seen fit to nick it in all those years. Now it was dead, killed by the weather.”

The bike that was stolen had come into his ownership much more recently, with Johnson claiming it had been given to him by former Olympic and world champion Chris Boardman, now Greater Manchester’s Walking and Cycling Commissioner.

The fact the story doesn’t add up was seized on by one Tory opponent of Johnson, who told The Times: “With anecdotes like this the wheels come off his campaign rather than any mythical bike.”

The newspaper added that the MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip’s team had declined to comment on the issue.

While he was Mayor of London, Johnson regularly commuted by bike from his home in Canonbury to City Hall near London Bridge, but after he was appointed Foreign Secretary by May in July 2016, he was banned from cycling by his security team, much to his dismay.

> Boris Johnson banned from cycling by security team

Johnson challenged the decision, but it was upheld by a full Metropolitan Police protection branch review.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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14 comments

Avatar
The Giblet | 4 years ago
2 likes

The man who has perpetually burning pants tells a lie! How surprising..

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David9694 | 4 years ago
3 likes

He actually casts a shadow?  Well there’s a thing.

With the bike story, is it lying, or is it worse, to say something you now believe to be true?  

The quote from the article describing  Bikie’s demise is also a bit vague.  Anyway, my point is that people like this come to believe their own hype - they tell it to themselves enough times, which probably isn’t that many times, because the bar as to what in their mind constitutes fact and separates it from fiction is set pretty low.  

Talking of fiction, now go and get your copy of 1984 - we’re not at war with Eurasia, never have been.

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ConcordeCX | 4 years ago
9 likes

At least his shadow doesn't lie

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Deeferdonk | 4 years ago
3 likes

Can't we just say "lied" rather than "embellished"?

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Deeferdonk | 4 years ago
5 likes

Can't we just say "lied" rather than "embellished"?

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burtthebike replied to Deeferdonk | 4 years ago
2 likes

Deeferdonk wrote:

Can't we just say "lied" rather than "embellished"?

Newspeak, dear boy, newspeak.  Otherwise known at BBS (Boris BS).

Avatar
Mungecrundle | 4 years ago
4 likes

I expect he will shed a little tear when, despite every effort to make himself look, sound and act like an un-electable bozo, he actually becomes Conservative party leader and Prime Minister of the UK as it heads rudderless towards the rocks.

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brooksby replied to Mungecrundle | 4 years ago
5 likes

Mungecrundle wrote:

I expect he will shed a little tear when, despite every effort to make himself look, sound and act like an un-electable bozo, he actually becomes Conservative party leader and Prime Minister of the UK as it heads rudderless towards the rocks.

I suspect that, like Farage, if it goes wrong (as it will) he'll blame it all on "betrayal" by someone else... 

Avatar
brooksby | 4 years ago
7 likes

How have we reached a situation where this bloke is the leader of the country?  We can't all have been bad in a previous life?!?

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burtthebike | 4 years ago
4 likes

There are rumours that Boris, or mini-Trump as we call him in my house, is trying to break Trump's lying record, but even though he's recently picked up the pace, he's still a long way behind.  Perhaps he's hoping to catch up when Trump is in jail.

I wonder how his model bus building hobby is going.

We live in an age where the lies win and the truth loses.

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leaway2 | 4 years ago
8 likes

That bike wasn't given to him, it cost £350 million.

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handlebarcam | 4 years ago
8 likes

We're in the last decade of viability of the Conservative Party, and similar parties worldwide. When AI and robots take over most jobs, and the effects of climate change become obvious - and even sooner in this country when Brexit crashes the economy - then who is going to vote for them? Nobody unless they lie their arses off by blaming everything on outsiders. So their supporters have now accepted that lies are a necessary part of holding on to power. So much so that it seems they're going to follow the example of the Republicans in the US and choose someone as leader who is incapable of ever telling the truth, even about the theft of a bicycle.

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OldRidgeback | 4 years ago
6 likes

Renowned liar tells another one.

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jollygoodvelo | 4 years ago
10 likes

Boris talking bollocks shocker.  And now, the weather.

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