During Monday night's Tory leadership debate between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, the former foreign secretary made a bizarre revelation.
In a quick fire round, host and journalist Tom Newton Dunn asked the two leadership hopefuls when was the last time that either of them had cried.
Hunt refused to answer the question as the section was only supposed to be 'yes' or 'no' answers so he objected on those rules.
Johnson, however, began a bizarre anecdote about having his bicycle stolen from outside of parliament before turning it into a thinly veiled attack on Sadiq Kahn.
The last time I shed a tear... I came out of parliament to find my bike had been nicked.
I want you to know that this was very recently. I had this bike for the whole of my mayoral career.
It was a beautiful bike. It was given to me by Chris Boardman, the fantastic cyclist.
It was a beautiful Boardman bike. It wasn't the most expensive Boardman bike but it was a beautiful bike.
It was never nicked during my entire time as mayor. I used to chain it up across the whole city. Cycle everywhere.Â
Barely had Sadiq Kahn's reign begun...
Johnson's story elicited a few chuckles from the audience but Newton Dunn urged him to press on and asked if the incident had actually caused him to cry, to which he replied.
I became mildly lachrymose. Anyone who has something they love stolen feels a sense of outrage.
Whether Johnson actually cried or not doesn't really matter but it was just such a strange story to tell that it was bound to generate a lot of discussion on Twitter.
Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt asked when they last cried. Hunt refuses to answer. Johnson says it was when someone stole his bike.— Adam Bienkov (@Adam Bienkov) 1563218817
"Last time I shed a tear was I came out of parliament to find my bike had been nicked...A beautiful Boardman bike" says @BorisJohnson— Robert Peston (@Robert Peston) 1563218736
Did Boris’s bike get nicked in Parliament?? If not, why was he parking it outside the estate? Much more secure insi… https://t.co/0KaYNxbCM3— Isabel Hardman (@Isabel Hardman) 1563218905
@Peston @BorisJohnson Chris Boardman sitting at home thinking, "Sh*t! Please don't endorse my bike brand! Look what you did to Heck's!"— Boudiccan Destruction Horizon (@Boudiccan Destruction Horizon) 1563219367
Others suggested more worthy things that he should have probably cried about.
@Peston @BorisJohnson So, not about anyone in an Iranian prison then?..— Brian H (@Brian H) 1563218828
@Peston @BorisJohnson And therein lies your problem, Mr Johnson. You *should* be weeping over avoidable deaths, pov… https://t.co/9DxS0S4ojE— 🇪🇺 #JohnsonOut Frances Carey 💙 #FBPE (@🇪🇺 #JohnsonOut Frances Carey 💙 #FBPE) 1563219695