Boris Johnson has lavished praise on Donald Trump, saying the US president has "many, many good qualities" and lauding his record in office.

The Tory leadership frontrunner said the Republican had got the US economy "motoring" and suggested that he wanted to copy some of Mr Trump's policies.

Speaking at a Conservative leadership hustings in Carlisle, he said the US president was "having results" and added: "We should pay tribute to that."

Mr Johnson, who is vying with Jeremy Hunt to be the next prime minister, was asked how he would persuade Mr Trump to take tougher action against global warming.

The former foreign secretary said he had been "very clear" with Mr Trump and his team that the US "must play a leading role in continuing to reduce CO2".

Of the US president, he added: "Actually he has many, many good qualities. This is a guy who, when all is said and done, has got the US economy motoring along at about 3.6 per cent growth.

"He's put in capital allowances for business in a way that I think we should be looking at here, he's cut regulations and he's cut taxes in a way that has driven growth in the US."

He continued: "We Tories, we Conservatives, I think, for too long have failed to talk up the agenda of free market economics, and we've failed to be positive about it...I know that not everybody agrees with everything Donald Trump says or does but on that he is having results, and we should pay tribute to that."

In comments reminiscent of Mr Trump's criticism of the media, Mr Johnson described the BBC as the "Brexit Bashing Corporation" and condemned the organisation's decision to stop funding free television licences for people aged over 75.

He reserved further criticism for John Bercow, the House of Commons speaker, who he warned not to help MPs hoping to block a no-deal Brexit.

He said: "I hope that John the speaker will take his responsibilities as a parliamentarian as seriously and soberly as we all do and make sure he uses his good offices to reflect the overwhelming will of the people that we should get Brexit done whatever people voted and he will help parliamentarians to recover the trust that they have currently lost by getting us out of the EU by 31 October."

Mr Hunt also appeared to criticised Mr Bercow​, saying: "He is a reforming speaker and I respect some of the changes he's made but in the end I think a speaker has to be fair to all sides of the House of Commons and he's taken the view the speaker is there to champion the backbenchers against the government.

"But I think for the government of this country to work we need a referee who holds the field completely impartially between both sides."

Biggest lies told by Boris Johnson Show all 5 1 /5 Biggest lies told by Boris Johnson Biggest lies told by Boris Johnson Made-up quote for The Times Johnson was sacked from The Times newspaper in the late 1980s after he fabricated a quote from his godfather, the historian Colin Lucas, for a front-page article about the discovery of Edward II’s Rose Palace. “The trouble was that somewhere in my copy I managed to attribute to Colin the view that Edward II and Piers Gaveston would have been cavorting together in the Rose Palace,” he claimed. Alas, Gaveston was executed 13 years before the palace was built. “It was very nasty,” Mr Johnson added, before attempting to downplay it as nothing more than a schoolboy blunder. PA Biggest lies told by Boris Johnson Sacked from cabinet over cheating lie Michael Howard gave Boris Johnson two new jobs after becoming leader of the Conservatives in 2003 – party vice-chairman and shadow arts minister. He was sacked from both positions in November 2004 after assuring Mr Howard that tabloid reports of his affair with Spectator columnist Petronella Wyatt were false and an “inverted pyramid of piffle”. When the story was found to be true, he refused to resign. PA Biggest lies told by Boris Johnson Broken promise to boss In 1999 Johnson was offered editorship of The Spectator by owner Conrad Black on the condition that he would not stand as an MP while in the post. In 2001 he stood - and was elected - MP for Henley, though Black did allow him to continue as editor despite calling "ineffably duplicitous" PA Biggest lies told by Boris Johnson Misrepresenting the people of Liverpool As editor of The Spectator, he was forced to apologise for an article in the magazine which blamed drunken Liverpool fans for the 1989 Hillsborough disaster and suggested that the people of the city were wallowing in their victim status. “Anyone, journalist or politician, should say sorry to the people of Liverpool – as I do – for misrepresenting what happened at Hillsborough,” he said. PA Biggest lies told by Boris Johnson ‘I didn’t say anything about Turkey’ Johnson claimed in January, that he did not mention Turkey during the EU referendum campaign. In fact, he co-signed a letter stating that “the only way to avoid having common borders with Turkey is to vote Leave and take back control”. The Vote Leave campaign also produced a poster reading: “Turkey (population 76 million) is joining the EU”

Mr Johnson appeared more relaxed during the latest hustings than he did during some appearances earlier in the campaign.

At one stage, he took aim at Theresa May and her cricketing icon, Sir Geoffrey Boycott.

The current prime minister has previously compared her leadership style to Mr Boycott's steady style of batting. Mr Johnson said it was time for a change and claimed he would be more like Sir Ian Botham.

He said: "I think that there is one way to do this thing now, if I may venture a cricketing metaphor, I think we've had quite a lot of Boycott on the wicket and it is time for Botham to come in. That is my view."

Boris Johnson says that there will still be drinking water after Brexit

Mr Johnson was interrupted by the sound of a helicopter while outlining his policy on climate change.

He joked: "Whose chopper is that? I've got a terrible feeling that's mine. Deeply embarrassing just as I'm talking about climate change. This could not be a worse moment.

"I promise we will offset those emissions by planting a shrubbery or whatever it is necessary to do."