The hashtag #PleaseLeaveMyTown became the top Twitter trend in the UK on Thursday evening after Boris Johnson was confronted in Yorkshire.
The Prime Minister was setting the scene for a “people versus Parliament” election strategy when BBC footage caught the moment a member of the public shook his hand and said: “Please leave my town.”
Mr Johnson promptly replied: “I will very soon” – the clip has since been shared widely on social media earning hundreds of thousands of views.
Several Labour MPs used the hashtag to share the video, with Labour MP and shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon tweeting: “When two worlds collide – straight talking Yorkshire meets Bullingdon bluster! #PleaseLeaveMyTown.”
Labour MP for Liverpool Walton Dan Carden meanwhile tweeted: “This is what happens when Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson actually comes face to face with “the people” he claims to speak for.”
The viral exchange rounded off another torrid day for Mr Johnson as his brother quit the Government, he was accused of using police officers in a “political stunt”, and his Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg was criticised by England’s chief medical officer.
The West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Mark Burns-Williamson called for Mr Johnson to apologise after making officers stand in the sun waiting for his speech before he used them as a backdrop for his belligerent Brexit ramble until one fainted.
Mr Burns-Williamson said: “To use police officers as the backdrop to what became a political speech was inappropriate and they shouldn’t have been put in that position.
“It clearly turned into a rant about Brexit, the Opposition and a potential general election. There’s no way that police officers should’ve formed the backdrop to a speech of that nature.”
