Politics

Boris Johnson recycled an old joke in his latest speech – and not for the first time

Boris Johnson recycled an old joke in his latest speech – and not for the first time

Related video: Boris Johnson supports Christmas appeal to send medical supplies to Ukraine

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Boris Johnson is a constant joke who likes making constant jokes - to the extent he makes the same joke more than once.

The last time we saw gagging this awkward was when we were shoving swabs down our throats.

Anyway… The former prime minister was delivering a keynote speech in Singapore at the International Symposium on Blockchain Advancements on Friday, during which he made a familiar remark about the weather and politician’s decisions.

According to The Times, he told attendees: “Even in the UK it was 40 degrees in July this year … British people find it very difficult to think of 40 degrees heat in the summer. I think it might explain why some of the irrational decisions that you saw in Westminster round about that time.”

As a reminder, it was indeed July that Mr Johnson stood outside Downing Street and declared he was finally resigning as prime minister after his government was rocked by mass resignations. He officially left No 10 in September, when Liz Truss took over.

Though in addition to making the weather and Westminster joke this week, he said almost exactly the same thing in Egypt at the start of November, when the Cop27 climate conference got underway.

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Back then, he said: “Climate change effects are all too real and visible even in the UK. Temperatures in London this July reached 40C – almost unbearable by UK standards.

“Perhaps even contributing, who knows, to unexpected political turmoil that we saw at Westminster at that time.”

That’s a cop out of making an original joke if we ever did see one (sorry).

And it isn’t the first time he’s repeated himself while cracking a joke. He also used the “donnez-moi in break” line in relation to several complaints about his policies – both as Mayor of London and as a Tory MP.

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