Boris Johnson has been accused of launching into a “deranged” rant about his record on immigration, which left a former Tory cabinet minister “visibly shaken”. Mr Johnson’s outburst came at a private dinner party held to honour Donald Trump’s second state visit at the heart of London’s Mayfair.
The former Prime Minister was in attendance, along with Liz Truss, Nigel Farage and prominent right-wing media figures. Hosted by US broadcaster Newsmax, the drinks reception was going smoothly before a series of after dinner speeches exposed huge fractures within Britain’s right-wing movement. A source at the dinner revealed to the Express that a simple comment at the after-dinner speeches sparked a furious backlash from Mr Johnson, branded “completely unacceptable” by the politically neutral onlooker.
Mark Harper, the former Tory MP who served in Rishi Sunak’s cabinet at Transport Secretary, appeared to snap Mr Johnson’s temper with inoffensive remarks about the need for the right to focus on what Conservatives agree on rather than what the disagree on.
Mr Harper praised Mr Johnson’s record on issues like Ukraine and Furlough during Covid.
However the former premier appeared to view this as a dig at his record in other areas.
Coming after similar barbed criticisms from broadcasting legend Andrew Neil and former Tory MP Adam Holloway, Mr Johnson snapped and launched into angry tirade.
The source recounted: “Boris, I think, was feeling very under attack, and he rounded on Mark personally and demanded to have the last word.
“He started shouting and kind of addressed it all at Mark, it was very uncomfortable. He rounded on him in a way that was completely unacceptable for the context.”
The Express also understands that Mr Johnson’s remarks took brutal aim at his long-time rival Nigel Farage, blasting: “All Reform do is blame foreigners – people that want to come to this country! They just attack foreigners, they have nothing to say about the country’s actual problems!”
The former Prime Minister was heckled by some right-wing members of the media while he was talking.
The Telegraph, which first reported some details of the eventful evening, said that Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg “tried to smooth things over”.
A witness told the paper that Sir Jacob “clearly believes Reform and the Tories should work together.”
“Both sides like him; he’s always the glue in the room,” they said.
“Otherwise, there was a robust exchange of views, and everyone defended themselves well, but real anger is obvious. The Reform attendees were of the view that this is why the Conservatives don’t function well as a party any more.”
