The PM brushed aside tough questions, but he has come clean about his notoriously messy hair.
The Prime Minister’s tussle with Brussels may be top of his agenda but he was asked to mop up questions during a visit to Greater Manchester about his blond locks.
Mr Johnson insisted – despite speculation on the contrary – that he does comb his hair, and keeps a brush in his office.
A reporter asked on behalf of his mother why the premier never appears to brush his hair – even when representing the country abroad.
“Your hair is always all over the place and she wants to know why,” the journalist said in the interview with Mr Johnson as he visited an Openzone training facility in Bolton.
The Prime Minister insisted: “I do! It’s something to do with my hair but I can tell you I do brush it – I have a brush in my office.
“And anyway, will you give your mother my very best for a very happy Christmas. And my apologies for my hair but I do my best with it.”
Another national lockdown
Boris Johnson has not ruled out a third national lockdown amid rising rates of coronavirus, as health chiefs warn of the toll on frontline staff and services from festive mixing.
The Prime Minister said rates of infection have increased “very much in the last few weeks”, as pressure grows on the Government to do more to tackle the rise.
Northern Ireland and Wales are bracing for lockdowns in the days after Christmas, and a senior emergency medicine doctor said the rest of the UK must do “whatever it takes” to get infections under control.
Speaking during a visit to Greater Manchester, Mr Johnson was asked whether England would follow Northern Ireland in imposing stringent restrictions after the festive period.
He said: “We’re hoping very much that we will be able to avoid anything like that. But the reality is that the rates of infection have increased very much in the last few weeks.”
Schools minister Nick Gibb earlier insisted England’s tier system, which will see swathes of southern and eastern England move to the toughest restrictions, is “very effective”.
But he added “we rule nothing out” when asked about the possibility of a national lockdown after Christmas.