Boris Johnson dismisses claims he invented model bus hobby
‘They are not terribly good’: Boris Johnson dismisses claims he invented model bus hobby – giving details of how he uses wine crates and paints passengers to look ‘really happy’
- Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt taking part in latest Tory hustings in Nottingham
- Mr Johnson was asked about claims he ‘made up’ hobby of creating model buses
- He said he uses old wine crates and paints passengers to look ‘really happy’
Boris Johnson today laughed off claims he made up his hobby of creating model buses – but admitted they are not ‘terribly good’.
The Tory leadership favourite revealed the unusual pastime earlier in the campaign to take over from Theresa May.
But there were bizarre jibes he had invented the activity to stop search engines focusing on the Vote Leave slogan about Brexit freeing up £350million a week of funding for the NHS.
Asked at Nottingham hustings this afternoon why some people thought he had ‘made up’ his hobby of creating model buses, Mr Johnson said: ‘I don’t know. They can’t imagine what it would look like.’
Asked at Nottingham hustings this afternoon (pictured) why some people thought he had ‘made up’ his hobby of creating model buses, Boris Johnson said: ‘They can’t imagine what it would look like.’
He added: ‘They are not really terribly good.’
Amid laughter from activists, Mr Johnson initially seemed unwilling to go into detail about his scheme.
‘Do you want to go over this again, might people have some serious questions?’ he said.
Boris is on track for a landslide victory, poll of members finds
Boris Johnson is on track for a landslide victory in the Tory leadership battle, according to a poll today.
YouGov research for the Times found Mr Johnson has backing from a massive 74 per cent of party members, according to the survey.
By comparison Mr Hunt is supported by just 26 per cent.
The result is due to be announced on July 23, with the new PM taking over from Theresa May that week.
But when the audience insisted they did want to hear more, he launched into a full explanation.
‘Suppose you get one of those crates of wine that has two bottlers in it… and you drink the wine,’ he said.
‘And then you have the crate left over.
‘What I like to do is they have a division. So you use the division as the upper deck. And then you populate the upper deck with figures.’
A slightly bashful-looking Mr Johnson paused to observe: ‘I’m getting myself into more trouble here.’
He added: ‘Then you paint the whole thing red and get little plastic wheels… and then you have got a bus.
‘And they all look terribly happy.’
During the hustings, Mr Johnson also defended the controversial slogan about NHS funding on the side of the Vote Leave bus.
He described it as: ‘The historic bus of truth.’
In the 2016 EU referendum campaign Mr Johnson campaigned with a bus reading ‘We send the EU £350 million a week let’s fund our NHS instead’. Opponents argued using the gross figure – ignoring the British rebate and EU inward investment – was highly misleading
A YouGov poll for the Times today found Boris Johnson is on track for a landslide victory in the Tory leadership contest – with support from 74 per cent of activists
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