Boris Johnson: I'd love to "have a crack at" being Prime Minister
The Mayor of London tells Radio Times "if the ball came loose from the back of a scrum it would be a great, great thing to have a crack at"
London Mayor Boris Johnson would like to be Prime Minister – but he’s convinced “it’s not going to happen.”
While the 48-year-old believes that being Prime Minister would be “very tough”, he said in this week’s Radio Times that he’d happily “have a crack” at the country’s top job if the opportunity arose.
Speaking to film-maker Michael Cockerell for an exclusive interview in the magazine, the former Conservative MP said: "I think it's a very tough job being Prime Minister.
"Obviously, if the ball came loose from the back of a scrum – which it won't – it would be a great, great thing to have a crack at. But it's not going to happen."
Johnson has long been tipped as a possible future Conservative leader, but the politician insists that he will see out his second term as Mayor of London until 2016.
However, Johnson’s sister Rachel told RT that Boris has never been short of ambition.
“As Boris was growing up,” she said, “whenever anyone asked him what he wanted to be, he would answer: ‘World King’.”
The former Lady editor also said that her brother, who attended Eton with David Cameron, feels a “continuing superiority” over the current PM.
“When they're together it's rather sweet, because David Cameron – even though he's taller – looks at Boris as if he's still head boy at Eton."
And Boris revealed that he’s worked out a strategy for being successful in public life, admitting that his blustering persona allows him to disguise any gaps in his knowledge.
“As a general tactic in life, it is often useful to give the slight impression that you are deliberately pretending not to know what's going on,” he said. “Because the reality may be that you don't know what's going on, but people won't be able to tell the difference."
Read Cockerell’s full interview with Boris Johnson and the people closest to him in this week’s Radio Times. On sale now priced £1.60, it also features a behind-the-scenes look at the new series of Doctor Who, baking recipes from Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry, and exclusive interviews with the cast of Game of Thrones.
