Boris Johnson's awkward cameo appearance on a 2009 episode of EastEnders resurfaces online

There have been plenty of memorable faces to have a drink in Walford's Queen Victoria pub over the years. Phil Mitchell, Barry Evans, Kat Slater, 'Dirty' Den, Boris Johnson... sorry, what?

Yes, that's right, the current Tory leadership frontrunner showed up on an episode of Eastenders in 2009 when he was still the mayor of London and the whole thing was terribly awkward.

In the short clip, Johnson chats to Peggy Mitchell (Barbara Windsor) at the bar at the Queen Vic, after he popped in when his 'bicycle got a puncture'.

Peggy compliments Johnson on his work as a politician while her daughter Sam (Danniella Westbrook) and niece Roxy (Rita Simmons) look on with utter contempt for the future prime minister.

Johnson, whose acting appears to be as good as his politics, has only three lines in the scene, which are:

Oh, please call me Boris. 

No, I'm fine, thank you.

Really? Well, if you have any ideas for how I could improve Walford, here's my card

Good.

The whole thing is totally cringe-worthy and embarrassing and, at the time, was met with strong criticism from viewers as it not only aired days before the 2009 Tory conference, but also came after the former mayor of the capital, Ken Livingstone, twice had requests to appear on the soap declined.

Given Johnson's now prominent position in the Tory party, the clip has resurfaced after it was shared by ITN's Julian Druker and people are finding it to be as embarrassing as it was ten years ago.

Given that he is now actually at the head of the country, there are a handful of jokes about Boris and Eastenders.

HT Mirror

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