Boris Johnson compares Jeremy Corbyn to Stalin as he launches election campaign

Boris Johnson holds a cabinet meeting in Downing Street. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/PA Wire. - Credit: PA

Boris Johnson has compared Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, in his latest comparisons between the UK’s political leaders and dictators.

As parliament was dissolved ahead of the election, Johnson claimed the opposition leader shared Stalin’s “hatred” of wealth creators.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Johnson said the Conservatives would “cheer, not sneer” entrepreneurs if they stayed in office after the snap December general election.

Johnson said Corbyn had taken a stance that demonises billionaires with a “relish and a vindictiveness” not seen since Stalin’s attitude to landowners following the Russian revolution.

He is expected to put Britain’s withdrawal from the EU, the NHS, and law and order at the centre of the Tories’ campaign.

Johnson is expected to say: “There is only one way to get Brexit done, and I am afraid the answer is to ask the people to change this blockading parliament.”

“It’s time to change the dismal pattern of the last three years and to get out of our rut.

“Let’s go with this Conservative government, get Brexit done, and unleash the potential of our great country – delivering on the public’s priorities of our NHS, crime and the cost of living.

“Meanwhile the alternative is clear – Jeremy Corbyn and his two favourite advisers, dither and delay, turning 2020 into the year of two miserable referendums, one on the EU, and another on Scotland.

“And remember that a vote for any other minor party is effectively a vote for Corbyn, and his catastrophic political and economic programme.”

Johnson has previously compared the EU and Hitler, Gordon Brown to Gadaffi, Ed Miliband to Stalin, a London assembly member to the Taliban, and university admissions officers to Pol Pot.