Defence minister claims Boris Johnson is a left-wing Tory

Foreign secretary Dominic Raab with home secretary Priti Patel, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove and defence secretary Ben Wallace listen as Boris Johnson holds his first cabinet meeting since the election. Photograph: Matt Dunham/PA. - Credit: PA Wire/PA Images

A minister has raised eyebrows after claiming that Boris Johnson is actually a ‘left-wing Tory’.

Despite installing some of the most right-wing members of the Conservative Party into his cabinet, and fuelling fears that people from Turkey could become EU citizens and move to the UK, defence secretary Ben Wallace claimed the prime minister is a “left-wing Tory” who is also “pro-immigration”.

Appearing on the BBC’s Political Thinking podcast with Nick Robinson he said: “I think all my colleagues are about to discover that Boris Johnson is actually quite a left-wing Tory in many areas. Pro-immigration. As we can see from the manifesto, pro-public spending.”

The claim was tweeted by Robinson to ridicule from his Twitter followers.

“Pretty obvious there’s nothing remotely “left” about Johnson”, wrote Mike Reigns.

Ash Boothright said: “Johnson will be what suits Johnson at any given time . He’s a chameleon, that’s what makes him so dangerous”.

“In which case I dread to think what a ‘right wing Tory’ looks like”, posted another.