London Mayor Boris Johnson had a stroke of bad luck on a visit to Birmingham – when he got paint all over his suit during a publicity stunt.
Sadly it was more white gloss than Tory blue for BoJo as he helped community volunteers repaint railings.
Boris, tipped by many to be the successor to David Cameron, visited two target seats in the region – Northfield and Solihull – today.
However, a pre-planned photo opportunity painting a fence in Kings Norton resulted in a brush with misfortune when he ended up with paint all over his trousers.
But Boris didn’t bristle when asked about it, saying it was worth a bit of paint to show his party’s hard-working credentials.
He told the Mail: “It was worth it. This is a visible sign of my commitment to social action and the volunteering that Conservatives champion.
“It shows that Labour moan about things, Conservatives get things done.
“We don’t mind a bit of paint on our trousers if it boosts employment in the dry cleaning sector it is all to the good.”
He added: “I don’t know what people on the train are going to think. People are going to say I have been paintballed.”
The Mayor of London, or BoJo to his friends, was visiting the region to show support to two candidates in target seats.
He visited Julian Knight, who is opposing Lib Dem Lorely Burt in Solihull, and Rachel Maclean, standing against Labour’s Richard Burden in Northfield.
Meanwhile, Boris himself is contesting the safe Tory seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip in the General Election.
However, he laughed off questions about being a potential successor to David Cameron.
The Prime Minister announced earlier this week that he would not want to stand for a third term if the Tories were re-elected on May 7 – leading to feverish debate on who will replace him.
Boris is strong favourite for the role. He is presently 15/8 with Bet365 to be the next Conservative party leader, ahead of Theresa May at 4/1 and George Osborne at 9/1.
However, when asked if he’d return to repaint the fence as Prime Minister in three years, he declined to comment, saying he hoped to be coming back to support Mrs Maclean as an MP.
