PM Boris Johnson’s father Stanley has been widely panned on social media after lashing out at his son’s critics, who have been suggesting that Boris is a liar by likening him to a cartoon character Pinocchio.

It’s only natural that a father will want to defend his child if they’re coming under fire from detractors, which is exactly what Stanley Johnson attempted to do on Friday morning.

Appearing on the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire show, Stanley was asked to respond to people on social media that were comparing Boris to Pinocchio, a character from a book by Italian Carlo Collodi and made famous by Walt Disney’s 1940 adaptation – mostly for his frequent tendency to lie.

The prime minister’s father gave a somewhat angry response – ostensibly managing to insult the British public in the process by insinuating the majority aren’t very good at spelling.

Earlier, PM Johnson came in for some uncomfortable questioning on LBC radio from presenter Nick Ferrari and via calls from members of the public asking him to talk about his children.

He refused to answer the personal questions – even how many kids he had – despite having made derogatory remarks in the past about those brought up by single mums. In a column for the Spectator magazine in 1995 he branded such children as “ill-raised, ignorant, aggressive and illegitimate.”