The many times Boris the Builder donned high-vis amid scandal
The many times Boris the Builder donned high-vis to distract the public from his latest scandal… so ‘can he fix it’ with a bright orange jacket this time?
- PM in attire more suited to Bob the Builder as he visited Tilbury Docks today
- It is not the first time he has dressed this way for an official visit away from No10
- Previous visits to sites requiring bright clothing have come at tricky moments
By David Wilcock, Whitehall Correspondent For Mailonline
Published: 14:12, 31 January 2022 | Updated: 16:59, 31 January 2022
Boris Johnson dazzled in neon orange today as he yet again donned hi-viz on a Downing Street awayday.
The Prime Minister was clothed in attire more suited to Bob the Builder as he visited Tilbury Docks this morning, as Westminster awaited the Sue Gray report into Partygate.
Wearing a brightly coloured coat and a white hard hat he posed for pictures while driving a forklift truck at the Essex container port.
He used the visit to refused to be drawn when asked whether the imminent report by civil servant Sue Gray into the gatherings would be a ‘whitewash’ after the Metropolitan Police requested parts be redacted.
He added: ‘Of course I stick absolutely to what I’ve said in the past’.
And it is not the first time he has dressed this way for an official visit that takes him away from London.
Along with visits to hospitals and vaccine centres, where he is usually pictured looking businesslike in a shirt with his sleeves rolled up – a reaction to cleanliness rules – industrial sites have been a go-to under his premiership.
Boris is at the wheel: The PM driving a forklift at Tilbury Docks in Essex this morning. The Prime Minister was clothed in attire more suited to Bob the Builder (below)
On a visit to Wales on January 27, Mr Johnson said he was ‘absolutely not’ trying to influence the outcome
Only last week he was decked out in luminous garb for a visit to north Wales as the furore over Ms Gray’s report into illicit Downing Street drinks events reached fever pitch in Westminster.
While there he spoke to reporters – as he does on almost all his visits – and flatly denied that the report was being neutered by the launch of a Scotland Yard probe into the worst excesses.
But on a visit to Wales on January 27, Mr Johnson said he was ‘absolutely not’ trying to influence the outcome. ‘I am afraid we have got to let the independent inquiry go on,’ he said, adding that the government was ‘getting on with our work’.
He was speaking at Hanson Aggregates in Penmaenmawr, and also visited Orthios Eco Park in Holyhead, Anglesey, which recycles and reuses plastics waste.
Later it became clear that the intervention of the Metropolitan Police meant the report was being neutered – albeit possibly only temporarily.
Downing Street today said the limited version of the inquiry report will be published this afternoon, but would not commit to publishing a fuller report after police have finished investigating.
Asked whether the public will see a fuller report, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “That’s one of the things I can’t confirm at this point simply because we need to discuss that with the Met and others about what is suitable.”
The Hi-Viz has also been broken out at the PM tried to sell his levelling up agenda.
He visited Selby in North Yorkshire last November as he tried to contain an all-out Tory mutiny amid claims he ‘betrayed’ the North by axing flagship plans to ‘Level Up’ rail.
The premier was accused of giving his crucial Red Wall voters ‘scraps off the table’ after the HS2 route to Leeds was ditched in favour of a Birmingham to East Midlands Parkway line.
The HS3 line linking Manchester and Leeds – known as Northern Powerhouse Rail – has also been shelved.
On a visit to a Network Rail hub in Yorkshire, the PM rejected as ‘rubbish’ claims that the changes break the ‘Levelling Up’ pledges in Tories’ 2019 manifesto.
He argued that high speed rail was ‘grindingly slow to build’ and most of the benefits could be achieved more quickly.
However, Transport Select Committee chair Huw Merriman said: ‘The PM promised that HS2 and Northern powerhouse Rail was not an ”either or” option.
Those in Leeds and Bradford will be forgiven for viewing it today as neither.’
He visited Selby in North Yorkshire last November as he tried to contain an all-out Tory mutiny amid claims he ‘betrayed’ the North by axing flagship plans to ‘Level Up’ rail.
That was his second adventure in hi-viz in a week.
Six days previously, on November 12, he had been be-vested as he visited a branch of Travis Perkins builders merchants in his constituency.
At the time he was facing the fall-out from the Owen Paterson affair, with a damaging ideological divide emerging between his party old guard and his younger Red Wall Tories over sleaze,.
The ‘Red Wall Tories’, who swept into the Commons from traditional working-class areas, are said to be furious at attempts by Tory grandees to save lobbying row MP Owen Patterson.
He stood down as an MP after being censured by Parliament over his role with two firms paying him more than GBP100,000 per year.
And it is said to be causing a split between the younger crop of MPs and the old school Conservatives, dubbed the ‘Red Trouser Tories’ – a nod to the type of clothing associated with upper-class men of a certain age.
The same day it was revealed some 17 MPs – 15 Tory and two Labour – have used a loophole in parliamentary expenses rules that allows them to bill the taxpayer for the cost of renting a flat in London while making five-figure incomes from properties they own.
The wheeze – which does not break any expenses rules – has allowed them to claim more than GBP1.3million in the past five years, the i newspaper reported.
He drove an electric delivery vehicle during a visit to the builders merchants before telling reporters: ‘I do not in any way underestimate the vital importance of the transparency of MPs working number one for their constituents and not engaging in paid advocacy.
‘We have got to make sure that the standards committee is allowed to get on and do its work and the Commissioner for Standards gets on and does her work.’
Six days previously, on November 12, he had been be-vested as he visited a branch of Travis Perkins builders merchants in his constituency.
It had been all smiles in October when he used the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester as an excuse to get his helmet out.
At the time the multiple crisis he now faces had yet to kick off, and even backbench murmuring over planned tax increases were only light, as he rode high in the polls.
He joined Health Secretary Sajid Javid at a children’s hospital in Leeds en route to Manchester on October 2.
Then, two days later he attempted to show there was no ideological rift between him and Chancellor Rishi Sunak.
But their visit to a Network Rail site in Manchester came as the first signs of trouble were emerging over HS2.
That day Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has signalled that the eastern leg could be scrapped in favour of improving services in the North.
The Transport Secretary added to growing speculation over the future of the eastern leg of the high speed line from London, saying ministers will not ‘blindly follow’ plans drawn up almost two decades ago.
In an interview with the Financial Times, he signalled that a major rethink of the project between Birmingham and Leeds could be in order, with more focus on inter-connecting cities in the North and Midlands.
He attempted to show there was no ideological rift between him and Chancellor Rishi Sunak at the party conference in Manchester
He joined Health Secretary Sajid Javid at a children’s hospital in Leeds en route to Manchester on October 2.
In June last year the hi-viz was taken out as Mr Johnson faced questions over the resignation/sacking of Matt Hancock for his affair with an aide.
Ahead of his June 28 visit to Johnstone;’s Paints in Yorkshire he had been accused of ‘rewriting history’ after he implied he sacked Mr Hancock despite initially refusing to fire the cheating minister, who was caught on camera in a passionate embrace with Gina Coladangelo.
Mr Johnson’s claims ran contrary to No 10’s insistence, hours after CCTV footage of the clinch emerged, that Mr Johnson considered the ‘matter closed’ and had ‘full confidence’ in Mr Hancock, who would keep his job because he had said sorry.
But after 80 Tory MPs told No 10 he had to go after they were deluged with complaints, Mr Hancock gave a video statement saying that he had quit after he breached social distancing guidance by kissing Ms Coladangelo against his office door.
In response Mr Johnson said he was ‘sorry to receive’ Hancock’s resignation.
Visiting Yorkshire ahead of the Batley by-election, the PM suggested he had fired the Health Secretary and replaced him with Sajid Javid, adding that the Government’s ‘moral compass’ is intact.
When asked whether Hancock’s affair undermined the message about the country being ‘all in it together’, Mr Johnson said: ‘That’s right, and that’s why when I saw the story on Friday we had a new Secretary of State for Health in on Saturday.’
In June last year the hi-viz was taken out as Mr Johnson faced questions over the resignation/sacking of Matt Hancock for his affair with an aide.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson told reporters at a paint factory in Batley that he fired Matt Hancock for his affair with Gina Coladangelo despite backing him when their CCTV kiss emerged (right)
In May last year Mr Johnson donned the bright colours as he enjoyed a vaccine bounce in the local elections.
He was in high-viz on a visit to Severn Trent Academy in Coventry after it was revealed he had defied political gravity as the Conservatives racked up a string of stunning election results the previous day.
Labour was thrashed in the Hartlepool by-election on May 6, with Jill Mortimer securing a majority of almost 7,000 in a seat the Tories had not held since 1964.
Tory Ben Houchen won a second term as mayor of Tees Valley in the North East, with an astonishing 73 per cent share of the vote.
And the Conservatives gained control of a series of councils, including Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Dudley, Harlow and Nuneaton and Bedworth – reversing the mid-term slump often suffered by governing parties.
The Tories also won seats across the West Midlands and the region’s mayor Andy Street secured a second term in office.
Labour conceded the results were a ‘shattering’ blow to Sir Keir Starmer, who last night admitted his party had ‘lost the trust of working people’.
In May last year Mr Johnson donned the bright colours as he enjoyed a vaccine bounce in the local elections.