Boris Johnson 'tried to get in golf buggy at ex-Israel president's funeral', claims Emily Thornberry

Boris Johnson tried to get in a golf buggy at the funeral of a former Israeli president before David Cameron told him to stop or "you'll get shot", Emily Thornberry has claimed.



The Shadow Foreign Secretary said that as she and other dignitaries visited Shimon Peres's graveside in Jerusalem, Mr Johnson urged Mr Cameron to join him and take the vehicle for a spin.

Speaking at a fringe event at the Labour conference, she said she was there to represent her party at the funeral in 2016.

"There's the official funeral, and then there's going to the graveside,” she said. "I went to the graveside, and we were waiting for transport to take us to the hotel, and I was there with David Cameron and Boris Johnson and we were sort of standing their waiting for this lift.

"And there’s this golf buggy, it’s got water in it, the idea is that mourners can take a bottle of water.

"And Boris says to David Cameron 'oh, let's get in the golf buggy shall we'. I mean, this is Shimon Peres's funeral, and he wants to get in a golf buggy full of water.

“And so, David Cameron says 'no Boris, you'll get shot’."

Ms Thornberry also compared the Prime Minister to George W Bush and Silvio Berlusconi, saying he was a “bumbling” leader who could cause damage to the country.

She said: “The trouble is that we've had genial, charming, bumbling people around the world, but look at the damage they do.

"Think about George W Bush, mumbling and fumbling his way into a war in Iraq.

“Or Berlusconi with his bunga bunga parties and his kind of jokey persona, just tanking the Italian economic, dragging the country down.

“We can’t allow this to happen, particularly at a time of crisis like this, to have a bumbling, lying person running our country.

“He needs to be pinned down, we need to be clear that we need to do the work.”

A spokesman for Mr Johnson declined to comment.