Boris Johnson accused of ‘Trumpian tactics’ as he kicks off leadership bid

Journalists Beth Rigby and Laura Kuenssberg were booed at the launch by Johnson’s supporters, after they asked him challenging questions on his past record.

He mocked the BBC’s politics editor Kuenssberg for a “minestrone” of a question in which she outlined some of his past record before asking “can the country trust you?”

His supporters jeered the comment.

Sky News’s Beth Rigby asked: “You brandish your Brexit credentials but many of your colleagues worry about your character,” she said, describing when Johnson’s foreign office colleagues had admonished him for referring to Theresa May’s plan as a “suicide vest wrapped around Britain”.

Watching Boris' campaign launch and it's very Trumpian. Every time a journalist asks question about his character or reminds us dodgy things he's said, a coterie of his hangers-on start huffing and almost booing. Conversely they clap almost every time he manages a full sentence.
— Buck Frexit!  #REMAIN (@Beany_1) 12 June 2019

“You brought shame on your party when you described veiled Muslim women as ‘letterboxes’ and ‘bank robbers’,” continued Rigby, to boos from the crowd.

“People who have worked closely with you do not think you’re fit to be prime minister.”

READ: Boris Johnson disputes claims he’s unfit to be PMJohnson egged the boos on to further jeering by saying he was “delighted” that his supporters seemed to disagree with her.

Johnson also came under fire for permitting only six questions from the media.

Saj defends Beth Rigby and assures her she won't be booed after she was booed at @BorisJohnson's event this morning and he did nothing to stop the yobbish Trumpian behaviour of his supporters
— Iain (@IainW40) 12 June 2019

The exchange soon received comment from social media users, journalists, and from other politicians.

Sajid Javid opened the press conference at his leadership launch by promising journalists they would not be booed.

Sky News political correspondent Lewis Goodall tweeted: “Johnson’s jokey, casual and altogether quite rude dismissal of serious questioning from both [Laura Kuenssberg] and [Beth Rigby] was not a good look.

“Especially given those six precious questions are the only public scrutiny he’s received so far or likely to receive any time soon.”

He was retweeting the Guardian’s chief political correspondent Jessica Elgot, who said: “The most depressing thing this morning was actual sitting Members of Parliament *booed* a journalist for asking a question about something a candidate wrote in a newspaper column.”