Boris Johnson, a leadership candidate for Britain's Conservative Party, gives a television interview before a Hustings event at the Culloden House Hotel in Belfast, Northern Ireland July 2, 2019. Getty Images/Charles McQuillan/Pool via REUTERS

BELFAST (Reuters) - Boris Johnson, the favorite to become Britain’s next prime minister, said he identified closely with the Jedi Knights - the lightsaber-wielding mythical warrior monks of the Star Wars movies.

“Star Wars - I’ll tell you what - I identify very much with the guy with the lightsaber - the Jedi Knights,” Johnson said when asked who his favorite character was in the films.

“I am proud to say the lightsaber is manufactured, was invented in South Ruislip - the constituency I represent,” he added.

“I have a lightsaber in my office in Westminster - it is a most beautiful thing which was presented to my by no less a figure than Christopher Lee,” he said. Lee played Count Dooku in Star Wars.

“We invented the lightsaber in Uxbridge, it is wielded in Northern Ireland, the resulting film is shown around the world ... or something like that,” Johnson added.

The Jedi were an ancient order whose knights were guardians of peace and order in the Star Wars galaxy. Among them were Anakin Skywalker - who turned to the dark side as Darth Vader - and his son, Luke Skywalker.