London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Oct 23, 2026

Boris Johnson: Fact-checking three years of the outgoing prime minister's claims

Boris Johnson: Fact-checking three years of the outgoing prime minister's claims

Boris Johnson has resigned as Conservative leader and will step down as prime minister when a new leader is found.

It follows a wave of resignations by Tory MPs and ministers - some of whom implicitly questioned Mr Johnson's honesty.

During his three years he has been fact-checked regularly. Here are some of the claims that we examined when he made them (along with the articles from the time).


'Put £500 into the pockets of everybody'


Boris Johnson unveiled the Conservatives' plan to raise the threshold at which people start paying National Insurance contributions while electioneering in November 2019.

He said: "If we're lucky enough to be elected, so the first Budget we will go up to the £9,500 threshold and that will, as I say, put £500 into the pockets of everybody."

But this was incorrect. The Conservatives' own press release said the benefit from raising the threshold to £9,500 in 2020-21 would be £100 per year. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said it would be £85 per year.


'There will be no checks on goods going from GB to NI, or NI to GB'


Mr Johnson made this promise about the Brexit deal for Northern Ireland - known as the Protocol - which he negotiated and signed.

But this assertion - in a Sky News interview in December 2019 - was simply not true. It contradicted the terms of his own deal - as we pointed out at the time.

There have indeed been checks on goods from Great Britain (GB) to Northern Ireland (NI) since the Protocol came into force on 31 December 2020. These have led to political problems in Northern Ireland and the government now wants to change the deal.


'There are hundreds of thousands - I think 400,000 - fewer families living in poverty now than there were in 2010'


When we looked into Mr Johnson's claim made in June 2020, we could find nothing in the official poverty statistics to back it up and Downing Street was unable to supply a source for the figure.

The Office of the Children's Commissioner for England also examined the claim. Its analysis suggested that between 2010-11 and 2018-19:

800,000 more people in families were in relative poverty
100,000 fewer people in families were in absolute poverty

Neither of which supported Mr Johnson's claim - which looks to have been incorrect.


'I wear a mask wherever the rules say that I should'


Mr Johnson made this comment when asked at a news conference on 15 November 2021 whether he had worn a mask throughout his visit to Hexham Hospital a week before.

But it wasn't true - photographs emerged showing him not wearing one during the visit.

He later apologised, saying he had briefly not been wearing one and had "put it on as soon as I realised I had made that mistake".


'The guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times'


The prime minister was asked in Parliament in December 2021 whether there had been a lockdown-breaking party in Downing Street on 13 November 2020. He responded: "No, but I am sure that whatever happened, the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times."

The report by civil servant Sue Gray into Downing Street gatherings says there were two that day. Boris Johnson was even photographed at one of them, with at least six other people and bottles of wine.

Boris Johnson pictured at Downing Street gathering on 13 November 2020


At least one person was fined for that event, so it is not true to say that the Covid guidance and rules were followed at all times.

A parliamentary committee is currently investigating whether Mr Johnson deliberately misled MPs about the matter.


'Proudly restoring the crown stamp on to the side of pint glasses'


This Boris Johnson quote from January 2022 was in a government press release listing the "opportunities of Brexit".

The crown stamp used to be required as a "conformity mark" - something showing that a product conformed with regulations - on British pint glasses. This changed in 2006 when it was replaced by the EU conformity mark CE.

But the quote was misleading. EU rules didn't stop the UK from having a crown stamp on pints before Brexit as a decorative feature (as long as it didn't overlap or become confused with the CE mark). A Conservative MEP even sought and received guidance on this matter in 2007.

In June 2022, government guidance said crown stamps would not be returning as a conformity mark on pint glasses - that would be the UKCA mark along with an M - but could be used as "a decorative mark only".


Warm homes discount 'worth £140 per week'


Also in January 2022, Boris Johnson said in Parliament that the government's warm homes discount was "worth £140 per week".

This wasn't true.

It was worth £140 for the whole of the winter, not £140 a week.


'More people in work now than before the pandemic began'


In February 2022, Mr Johnson said at Prime Minister's Questions that there were "more people in work now than before the pandemic began".

But that was incorrect - the statistics regulator had criticised him the day before for making this claim on several previous occasions.

Mr Johnson was mixing up the number of people on payrolls, which had gone up, with the number of people in work, which had not. They are not the same thing - the payroll number excludes self-employed people, for example.


'We have been cutting crime by 14%'


Mr Johnson also said this in Parliament in February 2022. The figure was incorrect because it excluded fraud and computer misuse.

When those were included, crime had actually risen by 14%.

The prime minister was criticised by the statistics regulator again.



Sanctioned 'a further 100 last week'


Talking about sanctions against Russians over the Ukraine invasion. Mr Johnson told Parliament on 3 March 2022 that the UK had sanctioned "275 individuals already, a further 100 last week".

He used the 100 figure several times that week but the government was unable to provide a list of who they were.

The lists they did send showed that only 15 individuals had been sanctioned in the previous week - a fact we highlighted at the time.


'We've done more to resettle vulnerable people than any other European country since 2015'


Mr Johnson made this comment in Parliament in March 2022 when questioned about the UK's record on refugees.

He was right about a very specific, small group of refugees, who were admitted to the UK from another country where they had initially sought refuge.

This would apply, for example, to someone who had fled the war in Syria and was now living in a camp in Jordan.


But the claim was misleading if you look at the asylum system as a whole. In the years from 2015-20, the UK was considerably behind Germany which took in 1,060,000 refugees compared with the UK's figure of 92,000.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Piper Tomahawk Aircraft Crash Near Drymen in Stirling Claims Two Lives as Investigators Deploy
North Sea Transition Authority Approves Jackdaw Gas Field Production After Ministerial Authorization
Government Injects One Hundred and Forty Million Pounds to Expand Urgent Care Ahead of Winter Crisis
Department of Health Warns Further Pay Rises Will Derail National Health Service Waiting List Targets
Major Environmental Emergency Declared in South Wales Following Aerospace Kerosene Spill
Tank Barrel Production Returns to Britain as Defence Contractors Accelerate Domestic Rearmament
Government Approves Controversial Jackdaw Gasfield Development in the North Sea
National Health Service Maternity Safety Review Condemned Over Flawed Artificial Intelligence Integration
Dozens of United Kingdom Government Services Taken Offline Amid Critical Software Vulnerability
Barclays Announces Five Thousand Job Cuts Citing Artificial Intelligence Productivity Gains
Treasury Relaxes Post-Financial Crisis Accountability Rules for City of London Executives
United Kingdom Government Issues Unprecedented Guidance Urging Citizens to Stockpile Essential Supplies
United Kingdom Consumer Inflation Accelerates to Eleven-Month High Driven by Transport Costs
United Kingdom Public Sector Net Debt Breaches Three Trillion Pounds Ahead of Autumn Budget
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology Commits Fifty Million Pounds to Establish Regional Artificial Intelligence Innovation Clusters
Ofgem Directs Major Energy Suppliers to Expand Vulnerable Household Support Funds Ahead of Winter Heating Season
Home Office and National Police Chiefs Council Unveil New Intelligence-Led Strategy to Tackle Organised Immigration Crime Networks
First Minister John Swinney Secures Scottish Parliament Approval for Comprehensive Climate and Green Energy Infrastructure Strategy
National Health Service England and Trades Union Congress Finalize Agreement on Emergency Winter Staffing and Pay Frameworks
HM Treasury and Department for Business and Trade Announce Multi-Billion-Pound Sovereign Investment Pact to Spur Regional Advanced Manufacturing
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey Signals Potential for Faster Interest Rate Cuts as Domestic Inflation Pressures Ease Below Forecasts
Parliamentary Inquiry Highlights Urgent Need to Address Housing Shortage as Scottish Completions Hit Eleven-Year Low
United Kingdom and Singapore Sign Comprehensive Financial Agreement to Deepen Digital and Sustainable Market Ties
Greggs Announces Plan to Close Four Manufacturing Facilities and Cut Seven Hundred and Forty Jobs
International Monetary Fund Raises United Kingdom Economic Growth Forecast While Warning of Inflationary Pressures
Energy Security and Net Zero Committee Urges Government to Shift Policy Costs Onto Gas to Lower Household Bills
Housebuilding Across Scotland Plummets to Eleven-Year Low Despite Government Pledges to Tackle National Housing Emergency
Greggs Announces Factory Closures Across Northern England and Scotland Affecting Seven Hundred Forty Jobs
United Kingdom and Singapore Conclude Eleventh Financial Dialogue in Singapore to Deepen Cooperation on Digital Finance and Capital Markets
Energy Security and Net Zero Committee Urges Government to Shift Policy Costs to Gas Bills and Tap Windfall Profits to Lower Consumer Prices
British Broadcasting Corporation Announces Major Cost-Cutting Overhaul to Close Linear Broadcast Services for Television Channels BBC Three and BBC Scotland Alongside Digital Radio Station BBC Radio Four Extra
London Capital Markets Face Renewed Scrutiny After High-Profile Offerings Underperform Post-Listing
Green Party Wins Historic First Westminster Parliamentary By-Election in Gorton and Denton
Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds Unveils Sweeping Regulatory Overhaul for English Water Industry
United Kingdom Health Security Agency Confirms Thirty-Four Cases in Kent Meningitis Outbreak
Ministry of Defence Prepares Heat Pump Subsidy Cuts to Fund Urgent Military Modernization
British and European Union Officials Schedule Long-Awaited Bilateral Leaders Summit for November Twentieth
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey Urges Strict Fiscal Credibility to Protect British Bond Markets
United Kingdom Inflation Rises to Three Point One Percent Driven by Escalating Fuel Costs
Profit Warnings Among London-Listed Companies Reach Two-Year High Amid Global Energy Shocks
Chancellor John Healey Signals Targeted Tax Changes on Banks and London Corporate Offices Ahead of Budget
British Government Reallocates Twenty-Five Per Cent of International Climate Finance to Global Biodiversity Projects
Initial British Carbon Border Taxes Set to Undercut Parallel European Union Tariffs on Industrial Imports
Whitehall Prepares National Zero-Interest Loan Initiative to Accelerate Domestic Heat Pump and Solar Adoption
European Union Offers British Automakers Access to Hybrid Vehicle Trade Protections Subject to Strict Regulatory Alignment
British Probation Officers Threaten Widespread Industrial Action After Rejecting Five Per Cent Government Pay Offer
Microsoft Abandons Major British Artificial Intelligence Data Centre Citing Severe National Grid Power Constraints
United Kingdom Inflation Accelerates to Three Point Four Per Cent Ahead of Chancellor John Healey's Inaugural Autumn Budget
Surging Cloned Number Plates Severely Complicate Traffic Enforcement and Police Investigations
Mounting Opposition Challenges Planned Rollout of Autonomous Taxis Across London
×