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Politics
Elaine McCallig

Boris Johnson’s 8 oddest costume choices as he’s once again compared to Mr Benn

Boris Johnson has dressed up again - this time as a police officer - and it’s earned him comparisons to Mr Benn, the beloved cartoon character who dons a different costume and persona in every episode.

The prime minister was pictured wearing a police beanie, vest, and jacket during a visit to Merseyside Police headquarters this morning ahead of the release of the government’s 10-year drugs strategy.

Speaking to reporters in his get-up, he said that as well as helping drug users into rehab, the government is planning to “come down hard” on those pushing unlawful narcotics.

But the government’s drug strategy isn’t what has chins wagging this morning. Instead, people are comparing the prime minister to Mr Benn, a famously busy Jack-of-all-trades.

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In light of Johnson’s latest game of dress-up, we’ve picked out our favourite costumes from the Conservative cosplayer.

1. Scientist

Given we’ve been in a pandemic for the best part of two years, so it’s no surprise that Johnson has accumulated a vast number of Covid-related costumes.

He’s been pictured several times posing as a vaccine technician and scientist (perhaps a mad scientist? He certainly has the mop of hair for it…)

2. British Gas engineer

During a visit to the British Gas Training Academy in Leicester in September, Johnson dressed up in the company’s garb.

Hilariously, a Twitter user managed to prank British Gas by claiming Johnson didn’t fix their boiler, ate all their biscuits, and “left a giant turd” in the toilet.

3. Caterer

In 2019 the prime minister donned an apron as he served Christmas lunch to British troops in Estonia.

4. Soldier

During his stint as foreign secretary, Johnson wore full army camouflage as he rode a tank during a visit to Estonia in 2017.

The UK’s Russian embassy made fun of Johnson’s joyride in the military vehicle, tweeting that Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov “doesn’t need to ride a tank to make his point.” Ouch.

5. Painter

When he’s not manufacturing Covid vaccines, chasing after thieves, or fixing boilers, he also has a creative side he likes to indulge in every now and then. Last year he was papped painting machinery yellow at Appledore Shipyard in Devon.

6. Fishmonger

In 2019 he was spotted wrangling a cod during the general election campaign visit to Grimsby Fish Market.

7. Factory worker/taste tester

He’s even put his packaging skills to the test while visiting Rodda’s Clotted Cream factory in Redruth in 2019.

He was joined by the now-environment secretary George Eustice before enjoying the fruits of his labour like the cat that got the cream as he switched gears to another role as a taste tester.

8. Delivery driver

Johnson was spotted behind the wheel of an electric lorry during a visit to the Travis Perkins builders merchants in Ruislip last month.

While he was there, he served a few customers at the till and carried around bags of concrete, for some reason.

If he enjoyed driving, we hear there are some vacancies in the haulage sector…

Given all the different occupations Johnson has had, Twitter had a field day when they spotted that he now can add “police officer” to his ever-growing CV. Like Mr Benn, he certainly has had a varied career.

Mr Benn himself even weighed in on the Twitter discourse. When he spotted his name trending on Twitter today, he guessed it was down to the prime minister’s high jinks.

He also replied to a Twitter user who defended Mr Benn against the Johnson comparisons.

Johnson’s penchant for dressing up isn’t news to Mr Benn, as in 2019 the cartoon suggested creating a new political party we could all get behind - the Fancy Dress Party.

But Johnson isn’t the only politician to indulge in a little bit of make-believe. In October, Labour leader Keir Starmer crashed a lorry in an awkward PR moment and as you can imagine, the jokes wrote themselves.

This adds a whole new dimension to the recent “second job” controversy amongst MPs after the fallout of the Owen Paterson scandal.

What will Johnson’s next adventure be?

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