Boris Johnson yesterday refused 27 times to answer where the staged pictures of him and lover Carrie Symonds were taken, during an embarrassing interview.
The Tory leadership frontrunner was repeatedly put on the spot about the suspicious image by LBC presenter Nick Ferrari – who pointed out his hair was longer in the shot than now.
But Mr Johnson batted away each question as he fidgeted in his chair, like he has about the furious row with Carrie, 31, at her flat in South London last week where police were called.
And in another rambling radio chat, he compared himself to Greek statesman Pericles of Athens, told how he likes to make buses out of wooden wine crates and vowed to take Britain out of the EU on October 31 in a “do or die” Brexit – despite the economic disaster a no-deal will bring.
Many believe the staged photo of him and Carrie gazing longingly into each others’ eyes was a cynical bid to boost his image after their bust-up dented his lead in the Tory leadership polls.
Pressed by Ferrari on the snap, Mr Johnson blustered: “It’s not a state secret. It’s just something I don’t want to get into. Why should I?”
The host refused to give up on his grilling but the former Foreign Secretary added meekly: “If I may say so, this conversation is descending into farce.
The longer we spend on things extraneous to what I want to do… the bigger the waste of time.”
Mr Johnson also declined to say whether he was aware at the time the photos had been circulated and published on the front of the Evening Standard. He said: “There are all sorts of pictures of me on the internet that pop up from time to time.”
Ferrari confronted him with yesterday’s Mirror’s front page, asking: “Are you happy with the majority of front pages?” But Mr Johnson claimed not to have seen them.
Mr Johnson’s team have denied he staged the photos and allies tried to blame former Tory spin chief Carrie for their release.
He has remained tight lipped about the row at his lover’s Camberwell home, in which worried neighbours heard her screaming “get off me” and “get out of my house”.
But he finally acknowledged it while he was on the campaign trail in Surrey Hills, near Croydon, yesterday.
A woman told him: “We thought you were the best from the word go,” before adding with a grin: “Just don’t have any more rows.”
Mr Johnson replied: “No more rows. No, no, no. All quiet, all quiet.”
In another interview, with TalkRADIO’s Ross Kempsell, he was asked if he was not Boris Johnson , which figure from history would he be.
He replied: “I’ve always greatly admired Pericles of Athens because he was the guy who said that politics was about the many, not the few.
He was the first to use exactly that… a great orator. And, uh, he, uh, it was said that he thundered and lightened when he spoke.”
Speaking about how he likes to unwind, former London Mayor Mr Johnson – who was criticised over the £350million lie on the side of his Brexit bus – said: “I get old wooden crates right, and then I paint them and, suppose it’s a box that has been used to contain two wine bottles and it will have a dividing thing, I turn it into a bus.
“I paint passengers enjoying themselves on the wonderful bus, low-carbon of the kind we brought to the streets of London.” But he gave his strongest commitment yet to quitting the EU on Halloween .
Mr Johnson said: “We are getting ready to come out on October the 31st. Come what may.”
His words will alarm moderate Tory backers who Mr Johnson has privately told he will not allow the UK to crash out without a deal.
But in a shock move, he suggested he could even ignore Parliament if it voted to reject the no-deal plan he was pursuing.
Mr Johnson said: “It would be up to the Prime Minister of the day.
“I have myself to decide under the current terms of the extension that we have to apply for such an extension.” Later, Mr Johnson was slapped down by his Tory leadership rival Jeremy Hunt about his Brexit position. He had written to the Foreign Secretary asking him to commit to leaving the EU by Halloween “no matter what”.
But Mr Hunt – who accused Mr Johnson of “cowardice” for ducking out of a leadership TV debate with him – branded October 31 “a fake deadline” and said he would give an answer only if he agreed to turn up for the live clash. He tweeted: “Hi Boris, it’s good to talk.
“But no need for snail-mail, why not turn up to Sky tonight and I’ll give you full and frank answers?”
The show had to be scrapped because of Mr Johnson’s no show.
Mr Johnson, who was spotted wearing the same pair of socks at a hustings on Saturday and again during radio interviews yesterday, has recruited Mark Fullbrook – the man behind Zac Goldsmith’s “racist” London mayoral campaign – to run the final weeks of his bid for No10.
It was confirmed the new Tory leader will be announced on Tuesday July 23. Theresa May ’s final duty will be PMQs the next day.
