Boris Johnson Refuses To Answer Questions About Police Call To His Home

22 June 2019, 18:28 | Updated: 22 June 2019, 18:46

Boris Johnson refused to answer to questions about the police attending his home after reports of a row between him and his partner.

The leadership candidate was interviewed by Iain Dale in the first hustings event between the final two candidates to succeed Theresa May as Tory leader and Prime Minister when he was asked about the incident on Thursday night.

Police have confirmed they were called to the home of Boris Johnson and his partner after a neighbour raised "concerns for the welfare" of a woman.

But Mr Johnson said he thought people did not "want to hear about that kind of thing" and instead spoke about the London riots, the rear door of the new Routemaster buses and delivering the 2012 Olympics.

"People are entitled to ask me what I want to do for the country," he said, but Iain replied: "If the police are called to your home it makes it everyone's business".

The leadership hopeful asked members of the audience not to boo Iain for persisting with the question, before saying it was "pretty obvious from the foregoing" he would not be making further comment about it.

Scotland Yard said officers attended the south London address but there was no cause for action, adding everyone was "safe and well".

The Guardian reported officers were called shortly after midnight on Friday morning after neighbours said there had been a loud altercation involving 'screaming, shouting and banging'.

The neighbour said they recorded the altercation from inside their flat out of concern for Mr Johnson's partner, in which the newspaper reports Mr Johnson can be heard refusing to leave the flat and telling his partner to "get off my f****** laptop" before there is a loud crashing noise.

The Metropolitan Police said the caller was "concerned for the welfare of a female neighbour".

A spokesperson for Mr Johnson has given no comment to the incident.

Security Minister Ben Wallace said in a tweet, which has since been deleted, in support of Mr Johnson, saying: "What a non story 'couple have row'. Left neighbours give recording to Guardian. Newspaper reaches new low is a better news story."

The former Foreign Secretary had just been voted into the final two candidates in the Conservative leadership contest, going up against the current Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Mr Hunt hit out at Mr Johnson for avoiding live TV debates, challenging the contest frontrunner to join him "anytime anywhere", and said: "If we can't handle [scrutiny] with friends, we won't deserve to lead against our opponents".