Last night Boris Johnson took part in his final State of London debate with LBC host Nick Ferrari, before he finishes in his role as Mayor of London and focuses on work as an MP. Mr S can’t see him forgetting this debate anytime soon, however, after the blundering politician had an awkward encounter with a man in a wheelchair.
After a number of audience members stood up in City Hall to quiz Johnson on the lack of affordable London housing, Uber’s threat to black cab drivers, and the noise pollution that could be caused by airport expansion, Ferrari and Boris became involved in a spat about nuclear weapons. When Boris asked the LBC host what he would do in the same situation, he replied ‘I’m not the mayor’. Then Ferrari cut their conversation short to say that it was the turn of Nicholas Atkinson to ask a question:
‘Right we move on to other questions. Nicholas in Docklands, where are you sir? Can you wave at me? We’re over there Mr Mayor.’
The conversation can be seen at the 49.30 mark on the video:
Boris Johnson: Why aren’t you, why aren’t you even standing? That’s the question we all want to know
Nick Ferrari: Haha, never you mind
Nicholas Atkinson: I’m in a wheelchair
[audience makes sad aww sounds]
Boris Johnson: Sorry
Nicholas Atkinson: No, you don’t have to be sad. Boris, three years ago at this very event. I read some examples of misleading travel advice TFL was giving wheelchair users. You said you’d deal with this. Sadly TFL is still giving misleading advice. The tube map for example says that users cannot travel from London Paddington to Kings Cross when they can. Why have you not done what you said you would? And are you going to say sorry?
Boris Johnson: I’m certainly going to apologise if we’ve got something wrong, I will. The best I think I can do, is get on top of the discrepancy between the tube map and what is the reality for wheelchair access.
With the audience taken aback by Johnson seemingly asking the man in the wheelchair why he wasn’t standing up, Atkinson later took to Twitter to point out that the mayor had had to apologise twice to him:
#askboris Two apologies from Boris for me. First for asking me why I wasn't standing up. Because I'm a wheelchair user Boris.
— Nick Atkinson (@NJAE14) June 23, 2015
#askboris Second for not doing enough about the misleading travel advice TFL gives wheelchair users. Hopefully something will now be done.
— Nick Atkinson (@NJAE14) June 23, 2015
All in all, hardly a Prime Ministerial performance from the leadership hopeful, although it’s not the first time Mr S has seen such a gaffe. Back in 2008, Vice Presidential nominee Joe Biden asked State Senator Chuck Graham to ‘stand up’, before realising, to his horror, that Graham uses a wheelchair.
Update: In what may have been one of the worst cases of luck Mr S has seen for some time, it turns out that Johnson was asking why Nick Ferrari was not standing for mayor, rather than why the wheelchair user was not standing up. Unfortunately the man in the wheelchair — as well as the audience — thought Boris was speaking to Nicholas Atkinson rather than Nick Ferrari. It turns out that only one apology was due after all.
Comments