Tories turn on ‘stumbling’ Boris Johnson after chaotic Peppa Pig speech

Boris Johnson faces a backlash from aides, ministers after a speech in which he praised Peppa Pig World, compared himself to Moses and imitated a car.

Boris Johnson faced a backlash from senior aides and ministers on Monday after a chaotic speech to business leaders and a Tory rebellion over social care.

The prime minister gave a speech on Monday morning to the CBI in which he praised Peppa Pig World, compared himself to Moses and imitated the noise of an accelerating car. At one point he lost his place and spent 20 seconds asking those present to “forgive me” as he shuffled through his papers.

The chaotic speech occurred at the CBI in South Shields. Picture: Getty Images.

He faced a rebellion later from senior Tory MPs over sudden changes to his social care policy after the government admitted that some people could have to sell their homes to cover their costs. Ministers launched a frantic whipping operation to contain the rebels, who included party grandees, frustrated by a move they believed was regressive, and newer red-wall Tories.

One government source said there was nervousness in Downing Street after what appeared to be “stumble after stumble”, adding: “People are sharpening their knives. The operation should be spotting those things and heading them off.”

A senior Downing Street source told Laura Kuenssberg, the BBC political editor: “Business was really looking for leadership today and it was shambolic.”

“There is a lot of concern inside the building about the PM . . . it’s just not working. Cabinet needs to wake up and demand serious changes otherwise it’ll keep getting worse. If they don’t insist, he just won’t do anything about it.”

One Minister said: “He looked dreadful today. I think it’s indicative of the chaotic way the government is drifting. It’s not fatal, but he needs to get a grip.”

One Conservative MP told The Times: “The prime minister desperately needs a big moment where everyone says, ‘boom, he’s back’. Today wasn’t that moment but he needs to find it soon.”

Just got this glorious message from a staffer… https://t.co/k3UVVX0VKHpic.twitter.com/tjws6HodPf

— Laura Jayes (@ljayes) November 22, 2021

Johnson left business leaders baffled after paying extensive tribute to Peppa Pig World, an amusement park in Hampshire based on the children’s television series Peppa Pig, in a speech delivered in the northeast of England.

His address to the annual CBI conference at the Port of Tyne in South Shields was meant to be centred on the opportunities of the “coming industrial revolution” in green energy and the “moral mission” of levelling-up.

By far the most notable passage, however, was a call-and-response section about Peppa Pig, which came shortly after Johnson visibly lost his place in his notes. He said: “With safer streets, with great local schools, with fantastic broadband . . . ” as he shuffled sheets of paper, before trailing off. There followed 20 seconds of silence as he tried to find the right section of the speech, punctuated only by him saying “forgive me” to the audience three times.

Soon after, continuing to shuffle his papers as he spoke more hesitatingly than normal, Johnson said: “Yesterday I went, as we all must, to Peppa Pig World”, which is part of Paultons Park in the New Forest. “I don’t know if you’ve been to Peppa Pig World,” he added. “Hands up anybody who’s been to Peppa Pig World.” After one member of the audience raised their hand, he said: “Not enough.”

He continued: “I was a bit hazy about what I’d find at Peppa Pig World. But I loved it, and Peppa Pig World is very much my kind of place. It has very safe streets, discipline in schools, heavy emphasis on new mass-transit systems, I notice. Even if they’re a bit stereotypical about Daddy Pig.”

Boris Johnson at Peppa Pig World.

The show, which was first broadcast on Channel 5 in 2004, follows the adventures of an anthropomorphic young pig, her parents and her brother. Daddy Pig likes to read the paper and carry out DIY but is generally portrayed as clumsy and stubborn.

Elsewhere, Johnson quoted Vladimir Lenin and attempted to replicate the sound of an accelerating car. “Lenin once said the communist revolution was Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country,” Johnson, 57, said. “The coming industrial revolution is green power plus electrification of the whole country. We are electrifying our cars, we are electrifying our rail.”

Johnson also compared himself to Moses, and his ten-point plan for a green economy to the Ten Commandments. The plan was “a new Decalogue that I produced exactly a year ago when I came down from Sinai”, he said.

Peppa Pig was first broadcast in 2004.

While there was laughter at points during the speech, some business leaders present questioned the message. Michael Stirrup, chief executive of Waterstons, an IT consultancy based in Durham, told The Guardian: “It was interesting that he asked a group of business leaders in the northeast if they have travelled six hours down the road to Peppa Pig World and then talked about levelling up. It shows a bit of a lack of understanding, I think.”

Neil Whittaker, of the training firm Learning Curve Group, added: “I wasn’t expecting a Peppa Pig reference. He seemed to lose his way quite a bit.”

Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, said Johnson’s speech showed “how unseriously he takes British business”.

Questioned by a journalist, Johnson said he thought people had “got the vast majority of the points” that he wanted to make in the speech. In a speech to the Centre for Policy Studies think tank last night (Monday) he repeated the anecdote about Peppa Pig, saying that the program’s popularity in America was “the effect of the free trade in which Margaret Thatcher believed”.

James Mancey, the operations director at Paultons Park, said the attraction was “delighted” with the praise and that it was testament to its creativity.

Johnson said in his speech that the “real lesson” of his visit to the theme park was “about the power of UK creativity” because “no government in the world, no Whitehall civil servant would conceivably have come up with Peppa”.

The Times