An exclusive poll run by The London Economic has revealed almost three in five people believe it is not right to refer to the prime minister simply as ‘Boris’.
Debate over the correct moniker for the PM was reignited earlier this week after John Bercow lashed out at Good Morning Britain host Susanna Reid for calling the prime minister ‘Boris’, bizarrely suggesting that “Boris was her favourite puppy dog”.
Alastair Campbell, standing in as Reid’s co-host, piled in with his view that ‘Boris’ should be referred to as Mr Johnson – in all corners of the media.
Reid, clearly annoyed by the argument, brought it up again on Wednesday morning – asking Campbell whether she was allowed to call his former boss Tony Blair, set to appear on the show later, by his first name.
“Am I allowed to call Tony Blair ‘Tony’,” she asked, “or will I be accused of treating him like my favourite puppy dog?”
After Campbell suggested the situation was different, because Blair is no longer prime minister, Reid continued: “Right, so when I call Boris Johnson ‘Boris’ I get flack for it, so is it okay if it is somebody from Labour? Am I okay to call them by their first name?”
A TLE Twitter poll has revealed that most people (58 per cent) err on the side of not calling Boris Johnson simply ‘Boris’, and stirred some interesting reaction.
Is it OK to refer to the prime minister as ‘Boris’? #GMB
— The London Economic (@LondonEconomic) May 12, 2021
We’ve rounded up the best of the reaction below:
I think it’s disgraceful to refer to him as Boris when “big sweaty, waffling sack of Wotsits” exists. https://t.co/0sev3kl2Ei
— Jaack (@Jaack) May 12, 2021
I can think of plenty of alternatives… https://t.co/aaIQoUbxCN
— Jonathan Pie (@JonathanPieNews) May 12, 2021
No! It’s a marketing strategy to get you to buy something you don’t want, don’t need & can’t use. It’s what they have to do when you have something that no sane person would buy and sadly it works.
— Steve formerly Frank Matthews #FBPE ??? (@lamplightercop) May 12, 2021
I prefer to call him Vladimir.
— TallVenti (@tallventi) May 12, 2021
It’s not his name, but neither is Boris.
— Ed Wilson (@eddwilson) May 12, 2021
Related: Jeremy Corbyn: It’s a ‘bit rich’ to blame me for Labour’s electoral losses