Foreign secretary also compares himself to dog strangled by Michael Heseltine as he collects Spectator comeback of the year award

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Boris Johnson has said Britain will make a “titanic success of Brexit” and compared himself to the dog strangled by Michael Heseltine as he collected a comeback of the year at the Spectator awards on Thursday night.

“We are taking the machete of freedom to the brambles of EU regulation,” he said. “And we are in the process of creating something immensely positive for both sides of the Channel, a new European partnership between a strong UK and a strong EU. Believe me, that’s what people of this great continent want to achieve.”

He said he believed that Europe was coming to terms with the UK’s departure. “In the words of our great prime minister, they understand that Brexit means Brexit and we are going to make a titanic success of it.”

“It sank,” said former chancellor George Osborne, who was presenting Johnson with his award.

“Well, the Titantic exhibition in Northern Ireland is the single most popular attraction in the province,” Johnson said. “We are going to make a colossal success of Brexit.”

Boris Johnson’s speech at the Spectator awards

In his speech, Johnson said he had had “an extraordinary few months” and compared himself to Michael Heseltine’s mother’s dog Kim, which the former deputy prime minister admitted to strangling, but not killing, in an interview earlier this week.

“There have been moments since June 23 when I have genuinely feared that I might be strangled by crazed, pop-eyed, Europhile remainers,” he said. “And like Kim, I am genuinely pleased to have this reprieve. Though the dog had a very brief reprieve, I hope my comeback will be a bit longer.”

Kim was put down by Heseltine the day after the strangling incident, which occurred after the Alsatian attacked the politician.

Later in the evening, Theresa May was named politician of the year, accepting the award from George Osborne while dressed in the hard hat and hi-vis jacket which the former chancellor was reputedly fond of wearing for photo-ops.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Theresa May appeared to mock George Osborne by accepting an award from the former chancellor wearing a hi-vis jacket and hard hat. Photograph: Robbie Gibb/BBC/PA

The former work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith was given the award for resignation of the year “to recognise the art of going out forcefully, if not always gracefully”.

Accepting the award, Duncan Smith told Osborne: “The only difference between the two of us was that I had a prescient idea of what was going to happen and I resigned before Theresa could actually sack me. That’s the main difference.”

Labour politicians also took home their fair share of gongs. The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, was named the campaigner of the year for the huge rise in party membership.

“Jeremy Corbyn was the face of this phenomenon, but the brains belonged to his shadow chancellor,” the Spectator editor, Fraser Nelson, said.



MPs Jess Phillips and Hilary Benn won backbencher of the year and parliamentarian of the year respectively, with Benn praised for his speech on intervention in Syria, which drew consternation from the Labour leader, Corbyn, who took the opposing view on strikes against Islamic State.

Rachel Reeves won speech of the year her moving tribute to her murdered colleague Jo Cox. Parliament would find another MP, she said, “but no one can replace a mother” of her two children.

Labour peer Lord Dubs, a former refugee who came to Britain on the Kindertransport, won peer of the year for his amendment to bring child refugees to the UK.

Sadiq Khan, Labour’s mayor of London, won the newly created Joseph Chamberlain award for politicians in local and devolved government.

Ukip’s Nigel Farage also took to the stage to collect his lifetime achievement award, described by Nelson as “the Marmite politician of our age – and that’s quite some compliment, seeing how expensive Marmite is nowadays”.