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Boris Johnson has been mocked for his pronunciation of the word 'vegan' after he said veganism was a “crime against cheese lovers” and “takes so much concentration”.

The Prime Minister told BBC Breakfast he would not be taking part in Veganuary - where participants eat a plant-based diet for the month - because it requires too much thought.

Dan Walker asked Mr Johnson about his 2020 New Year's resolution to lose weight and asked if he would be doing Veganuary.

He responded: “No, I’m not, no I’m not. I had thought of it - but it requires so much concentration.”

He continued: “I do take my hat off to vegans who can handle it, who can manage to avoid non-vegan products.”

Mr Walker asked the prime minister whether it was because he would miss bacon sandwiches, to which he replied: “The whole lot”.

He added: “You can’t eat cheese can you? You can’t eat cheese if you’re a vegan?”

As Mr Johnson began to say: “It’s just a crime against,” Mr Walker interjected: “against cheese lovers?”

The PM agreed: “A crime against cheese lovers.”

The exchange followed a half hour interview in which Mr Johnson discussed the Royal Family crisis and tensions in Iran.

But, it was his pronunciation of the word ‘vegan’ - which he sometimes said as 'vee-gan', as if it rhymed with the word ‘began’ - that drew much of the attention online.

One person wrote: “Although a good interview, Best bit of this has been how #BorisJohnson pronounced vegan (ve-gan)!”

Another added: “The way Boris Johnson says Vegan makes me giggle. 'Vee-gan' like an alien species.

"He's also only just found out the vee-gans don't eat cheese.”

One person likened it to a Sci-Fi film race: “What’s a “Vee Gan” @BorisJohnson? The vegan part of Veganuary’s portmanteau isn’t pronounced like that!

“‘The Vee Gan race were at space war with the Klingons deep in the fifth star quadrant’”.

While another said: “Boris Johnson pronounces Vegan so weirdly! Vee-gaaaaan?”.