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Boris Johnson finally broke cover to officially launch his campaign to succeed Theresa May .

The frontrunner for the Tory leadership has so far kept a low profile but he couldn't escape the limelight forever.

Nearly three years since he led the referendum campaign to leave the EU, his speech was filled with bold claims about his record.

He promised to tackle widespread disillusionment over the protracted Brexit process.

But he also made a big play of his electoral record in winning ' Labour London' to become the first Tory mayor.

However, while Mr Johnson has always been an entertaining speaker and is not known for his lack of self confidence, many of his claims don't stand up to scrutiny.

Here we've fact checked his speech to separate the myths from reality:

NO DEAL

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Myth: Boris Johnson has said he is “not aiming for a no-deal outcome” for Brexit at the launch of his campaign.

Reality: He has won the support of hardcore Brexiteers by promising that he would take the UK out of the EU on October 31 come what may.

When asked by eurosceptic Mark Francois if he’d guarantee he was prepared to leave with or without a deal, Mr Francois said the former foreign secretary told him: “Look, Mark we’ve got to leave or the Tory party is finished, we’re leaving”.

But at the same time, he has been less hardline with moderate Tory MPs, telling them his preference is still a No Deal Brexit .

DIVISIONS

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Myth: Boris Johnson said he will “unite this country and unite this society”.

Reality: The Eton and Oxford educated frontrunner has a history of making divisive comments having described black people as “piccaninnies” and mocked Muslim women in burkas as “bank robbers”.

His electoral stardust faded after the hugely divisive Brexit campaign, when he left half the country feeling that he could not be trusted.

DRUGS

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Myth: When asked about using cocaine Mr Johnson said: “I think the account of this event when I was 19 has appeared many, many times.”

Reality: Mr Johnson admitted in 2005 he was given cocaine but “may have been doing icing sugar” and it did not go up his nose.

Two years later, he told GQ magazine: “I tried it at university and I remember it vividly. And it achieved no pharmacological, psychotropical or any other effect on me whatsoever.”

Asked whether it had gone up his nose, he added: “It must have done, yes, but it didn’t do much for me, I can tell you.”

In 2008, he claimed it happened when he was 19 but when that led to headlines which said he had admitted taking drugs he issued a denial.

“To say that I have taken cocaine is simply untrue,” he claimed.

LAW-BREAKING

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Myth: On breaking the law Mr Johnson said he “cannot swear that I have always observed a top speed limit of 70mph.”

Reality: Aside from the confusion over drug-taking, the Tory MP has in the past admitted to a speeding conviction.

While never convicted of an offence Mr Johnson was caught on tape conspiring to have a journalist named Stuart Collier beaten up.

The planned attack never took place, and he has always claimed that the tape was a joke.

THE UNION

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Myth: Mr Johnson said he was a man who would protect the union of nations of the UK, branding the relationship the “awesome foursome”.

Reality: Senior figures in the DUP are concerned that Mr Johnson might carve off Northern Ireland as part of getting his exit deal with the EU over the line.

Just this week Labour MP for Edinburgh South Ian Murray branded Mr Johnson’s plans to cut tax for the rich in England by raising them on people in Scotland and Wales “a greater threat to the Union than the SNP .”

FOREIGN RELATIONS

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Myth: He suggested he had helped boost the UK’s “soft power superpower” on his travels across the world.

Reality: During his two years as foreign secretary he compared the EU to the Nazis, made racist comments about Barack Obama and wrote a poem about the Turkish president having sex with a goat.And Donald Trump thinks he’s great.

Most damagingly, his claim that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was working in Iran, rather than on holiday, were seized on to boost the Iranians case the charity worker was a spy.

PRIVATE LIFE

(Image: Guy Bell/REX) (Image: Getty)

Myth: “What most people in this country really want us to focus on in this campaign is what we can do for them”.

Reality: The public wants to know what Boris Johnson would do as PM. But it also needs to know what sort of PM he would be.

The leadership favourite’s colourful private life and dubious morals - he has had numerous extra-marital affairs, is going through his second divorce and had a love child with another women - is factored in by his team but will make many voters uneasy.

KNIFE CRIME

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Myth: The former London Mayor claimed that “knife crime went down, the murder rate went down” during his 8 years in charge.

Reality: A mixed picture.

The murder rate fell significantly, though not by 50% as he claimed - but from 155 in 2008 to a low of 94 in 2014.

But it then started to rise again reaching 109 by 2016.

The statistics for total knife offences went up and down, but by the end were only slightly lower - 9,937 in total for 2008/09, against 9,738 for 2015-16 - than when he took over.

RECORD AS MAYOR

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Myth: Mr Johnson claimed his “long experience” at City Hall including riots and strikes and the Olympics proved he could run the country.

Reality: His record on delivery was mixed.

He was away on holiday (which he broke off reluctantly) during the riots, he promised a “no strike” deal with the Tube unions which never arrived and most Olympic planning was done by Ken Livingstone. He also wasted almost £1bn on vanity projects such as a garden bridge which was never built.

TRUST

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Myth: He said he could be trusted to run the country because: “I do what I promise to do as a politician”.

Reality: During the Leave campaign, Mr Johnson claimed that Brexit would be easy, there would be £350m more a week for the NHS and repeatedly raised the idea that Turkey - whose application to join the EU had stalled - could eventually join and its 80m citizens be able to migrate to the UK. All were false.