Boris Johnson's father says UK public 'couldn't spell Pinocchio'

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Stanley Johnson says British public 'couldn't spell Pinocchio' – video

Stanley Johnson also says it is ‘absurd’ that BBC can refer on air to tweet calling PM a liar

Boris Johnson’s father, Stanley, has been criticised for appearing to suggest the British public is illiterate.

In an appearance on the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire show, the 79-year-old was told that one viewer had called his son “Pinocchio”. Johnson replied: “Pinocchio? That requires a degree of literacy which I think the Great British public doesn’t necessarily have.”

The show’s presenter, Joanna Gosling, standing in for Derbyshire, asked what he meant by that, to which Johnson replied that he didn’t want to go into it.

“That’s quite a pejorative thing to say about the Great British public,” Gosling suggested.

Johnson said: “They couldn’t spell Pinocchio if they tried, I shouldn’t have thought.” He then challenged Gosling to spell it.

Johnson said he had been trying to make the point humorously, but he thought it was “utterly absurd and wrong that you can read out on air a tweet coming in from one of your readers which calls the prime minister a liar. I think it is amazing you can do that.”

On social media, Johnson was accused of outrageous snobbery and arrogance.

During the campaign, Boris Johnson has been repeatedly criticised over trust and honesty issues. The journalist Peter Oborne was part of a team that launched a website collating “the lies, falsehoods and misrepresentations of Boris Johnson and his government”, and Labour launched a “Time to tell the truth” campaign asking 60 questions it said the prime minister must answer.

Stanley Johnson does not have a formal role in government or the Conservative party but he has played a part in the election campaign. On Thursday night he went to the Channel 4 leaders’ debate as part of the Conservatives’ attempt to have Michael Gove appear in place of the prime minister.

The move was roundly mocked on social media as Johnson was accused of “sending his dad” to the debate rather than taking part himself.