Britain’s new Prime Minister Boris Johnson is not a great sport

Australia has a proud history of athletic Prime Ministers — *ahem* John Howard — but none of our former leaders can compare to the oafish efforts of the UK’s new PM Boris Johnson.

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Boris Johnson is a firm advocate of the health benefits of exercise and is often seen jogging and biking around London.

But things often fall apart when Johnson is asked to play nicely with others.

Johnson instantly became a public favourite in 2006 during a re-creation of the 1966 soccer game when England won its only FIFA World Cup title by beating Germany. Johnson spent the match ‘running around like a demented combine harvester’ according to The Telegraph and capped off his performance by launching himself at German professional footballer Maurizio Gaudino.

Soccer isn’t really Boris’ game, in fact his true passion is rugby. And the big man was taking no prisoners when on a trade mission to Japan in 2015.

Johnson had the ball, and he was not going to let the minor inconvenience of a ten-year-old child stand between himself and the tryline.

To be fair to Johnson he apologised to little Toki Sekiguch for the unbecoming behaviour. However, Boris does have form in the arena of hacking opponents many years younger and much smaller than himself.

Prior to his Tokyo exploits, Johnson was invited to join a children’s football game and true to form when a child got the better of him with some nimble footwork the now-UK Prime Minster hacked the youngster down.

Perhaps Johnson should stick to tennis, where the only person he is likely to hurt is himself.

“The whole point about this stuff is that you can be completely hopeless as sport, as indeed I am, broadly speaking, but you can enjoy it, you can get something out of it, and you can learn about defeat, which is a vital skill for everybody to learn,” Johnson said after a game in 2011.

Wise words indeed.

Boris Johnson hits a shot during a celebrity tennis match in aid of The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity at the Queen's Club. Picture: Adrian Dennis/AFP