What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Boris Johnson dismissed workers as “drunk, criminal and feckless” in a rant that exposes his class hatred.

The slurs, written when the PM was a journalist, emerged as he targets working-class votes.

He dismissed working-class men as “likely to be drunk, criminal, aimless, feckless and hopeless”, and single mums as “irresponsible” in a sickening magazine column in 1995, which emerged yesterday.

Mr Johnson wore a blue collar to be snapped in a butcher’s on the election trail in North Devon and Plymouth yesterday.

But Labour chairman Ian Lavery, an ex-miner standing in Wansbeck, Northumberland, said of his outburst: “These are outrageous remarks from a man out of touch with reality and whose ignorance and hatred of working-class communities knows no bounds.

(Image: PA) (Image: PA)

“Bullingdon boy Boris seems to be projecting his own despicable past actions on to a group of people he will never understand.

“I’d invite Boris Johnson to come to the North East and make the same comments to local residents and see what reception he receives.”

The PM’s remarks in the Spectator magazine were revealed as he attempted to woo female voters, pledging to “support women to reach their full potential”.

Mr Johnson, who has separated from the mother of his four adult children and has a 10-year-old child by an ex-lover, wrote that the kids of lone mothers are “ill-raised, ignorant, aggressive and illegitimate”.

(Image: Getty Images)

He also suggested social housing could be an “enticement” for young women to have kids, claiming “cuts in the safety net” to leave unmarried women in “destitution on a Victorian scale” could act as a deterrent.

Single parents’ charity Gingerbread said: “His stereotyping is thoughtless and inaccurate. It is poverty, not the shape or size of their family, that affects children’s ability to achieve their potential.”

Shadow Attorney General Shami Chakrabarti said Mr Johnson’s comments show his “contempt for women and families, as he hypocritically attacks what he appallingly describes as ‘illegitimate’ children”.

(Image: Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)

There are around 2 million lone parents in the UK, with one in four families headed by one. Almost 70% work, despite the lack of flexible work and the high cost of childcare.

Mr Johnson, due to hold a Brexit rally in London today, also tried to distance himself yesterday from a decade of Tory austerity. He said: “I remember having conversations with colleagues in the government… saying I thought austerity was just not the right way forward.”

But his voting record shows he has consistently stood up for the interests of the privileged few.

His plans to invest in public services have been criticised by experts for their lack of ambition.