Boris Johnson confronted by single mother over ‘ill-raised children’ comments as he is pressed on his own family during LBC radio call-in

Boris Johnson said that comments he made about single mothers were taken out of context when one confronted him over them live on radio today. 

In a column written for The Spectator magazine in 1995, he said that the “proliferation of single mothers” was producing a generation of “”ill-raised, ignorant, aggressive and illegitimate children”.

Mr Johnson was pressed on the quotes by Ruth from Oldham on LBC this morning, who said that she had been a single mother at the time.

She asked: “Why are you happy to criticise people like me when you refuse to discuss your family?”

The Prime Minister said: “Ruth, I want to say to you, I mean absolutely no disrespect to you or anybody.

“These are 25-year-old quotations culled from articles written I think before I was even in politics.

“And which actually when you look at the article itself bears no resemblance to what is claimed. And frankly, what it is yet another attempt by the Labour Party to distract from the fundamental issue at the heart of this election.”

He added: “[The Labour party] are just trying to distract from the reality that they have no plan to get out of the EU.”

When pressed by host Nick Ferrari on his own family, Mr Johnson said he said his children “are not standing in this election”. He said he did not want to be pushed into “dragging” his family into the conversation. 

The Labour Party further criticised his comments, with shadow education secretary Angela Rayner calling his comments a “disgrace”. 

She said: “Boris Johnson’s refusal to apologise for his hateful comments about single mothers, their children and working class men is an absolute disgrace. 

“​He is not fit to be an MP, let alone Prime Minister.”

In an hour-long question and answer session on the radio this morning, Mr Johnson was quizzed on crime, Brexit and Donald Trump among others.

Speaking about the President of the United States, who is visiting the UK for a meeting on NATO next week, Mr Johnson said: “We have very close relationships and friendships with the United States at every level of government but we don’t do, traditionally, as loving allies and friends, what we don’t do traditionally is get involved in each other’s election campaigns.”

Amir from Bow, in east London, asked the Conservative leader what he would do to bring down youth crime. 

Mr Johnson replied that he wanted to “make sure that people get apprenticeships, different pathways”.

Moving onto his budget for the election, Mr Johnson said there would be “no new taxes on income or VAT or national insurance” and a cut to business rates.

The Conservative leader also stated that if he won the election with a majority, that Britain would come out of the EU by January 31.