The clown prince of British politics: Boris Johnson adds to his album of absurd photo opportunities, this time with Darcey Bussell and a group of Bolivian Folk Dancers
- London Mayor joins Strictly star to strut his stuff on the Southbank
- The pair were promoting a scheme to use dancing to get fit in London
- It is just the latest ridiculous publicity stunt in Boris's back catalogue
- From kissing crocodiles to go-karts and zipwires, no stunt is too daft
For most politicians, image is everything.
Not a hair out of place, no grimace or gurning caught on camera, each public appearance carefully stage managed.
Unless, of course, you are Boris Johnson, who today added to his bulging photo album of absurd PR stunts strutting his stuff with Strictly star Darcey Bussell and a group of Bolivian Folk Dancers.
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Boris Johnson gets some dancing tips from Darcey Bussell (second right) and Bolivian Folk dancers
As he raised his hand in the air, it seemed like even Boris himself knew this was a particularly silly stunt
The ballet star-turned Strictly judge put the Mayor through his paces outside City Hall, as the media and a small crowd looked on
Ed Miliband's grim experience wrestling with a bacon sandwich or Nick Clegg's habit of looking glum in all pictures have attracted widespread ridicule.
And yet for Boris, it seems, there is no dance routine too ridiculous, no uniform too ill-fitting, no sport too demanding and, famously, no zip-wire too high for the wannabe Tory leader to turn to his advantage.
And here are 32 of his most absurd photo opportunities...
To mark Jeremy Paxman's final appearance hosting Newsnight, Boris took him for a ride on a tandem around London and outed the presenter as 'the last one-nation Tory working at the BBC'
I'll be bike: Boris persuaded Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger to mount a Boris Bike during a photocall in London in March 2011
The political heavyweight appeared piled on the pounds when taking part in the Ridelondon Grand Prix in August last year, although aides blamed an unflattering billowing t-shirt
To get away from the heat of the political battle, he experienced a real 'firehouse' at the London Fire Brigade's new training facility in Beckton in June this year
Never one to shy away from using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, the London Mayor offered some muscle to help with improvements to a new square at King's Cross station
Never quite pulling off the action man look, the Mayor launched last years London Poppy Day at HMS Severn after speeding down the Thames on a poppy branded Royal Navy RIB
The Tory high flier donned captain's hat inside an A380 flight simulator at the Opening of The Emirates Aviation Experience
Visiting a new Hindu temple where his head was wrapped with white material before he was given the ceremonial red dot mark, or tilak, on his forehead
The Tory big gun later joined members of the armed forces and volunteers for a gun salute in front of Armoury House
While most politicians might have just posed next to a crushed car outside Scotland Yard, Boris climbed on top of it to dwarf Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe
There is almost nothing he will not happily try his hand at, including making a Gu chocolate souffle
When not trying to stitch up the Tory leadership, Boris had a go at sewing on a visit to a clothing factory in East London in February last year
Always keen to be in the driving seat, he tried Go-Karting at a project in Brixton, ostensibly to promote a new volunteering programme
In November 2012, Boris clambered up a high chair wrapped in tinsel at Oxford Circus, apparently to promote shopping in the West End
During a visit to China in October last year, he insisted he was beating the drum for British business
Always keen to show off his sporting prowess - or lack of it - he rarely misses a change to pick up a cricket bat, as he did during a game with local Mumbai school boys on Juhu Beach in India in November 2012
He also joined in with the 'Ball Game' with former rugby player Lawrence Dellaglio and local children involved in the Magic Bus Project in Mumbai
He has also had a go at wheelchair rugby to launch the World Wheelchair Rugby Challenge at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
As far back as 2011 the Mayor of London was showing off his basketball skills to launch NBA Basketball Week
Using a rather old-fashioned wooden tennis racket, he took part in a celebrity tennis match at Queen's to raise money for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity in June last year
To mark the London Paralympics, he bizarrely joined Eastenders star Barbara Windsor to have a go at sitting volleyball at the ExCel Centre
Always keen to be seen as a friend of the stars, during the 2012 Olympics Boris performed the mobot almost as often as Mo Farah himself
In October last year he got a lesson in how to use a light sabre from Sir Christopher Lee, who was receiving a BFI Fellowship at the 57th BFI London Film Festival
Boris hoped to clean up in the publicity stakes, posing with a broom and actress Keeley Hawes to promote efforts to get London ready for the Olympics
Feeling the squeeze, the Mayor risked getting stuck on a rope bridge at the Olympic Park during a visit with Prince Harry earlier this year
Politicians normally settle for kissing babies, but Boris was happy to pucker up for a saltwater crocodile George, at Darwin International Airport, Australia
The London Mayor looked uncomfortable in the saddle as he rode a horse at the launch of the Longines Global Champions Tour in May last year
The new London Overground extension connecting Clapham Junction with Canada Water also provided an opportunity to lark about for the cameras
Only Boris could make the opening of London Overground's new East London route quite such a spectacle
Celebrating Chinese New Year in London's Chinatown is guaranteed to provide a photo opportunity
Bright colours, feathers and dancing girls? Boris is never far away from a Notting Hill carnival PR stunt
As the world's gaze turned to London ahead of the Olympic Games, what finer advert for the nation than the Mayor of the greatest city in the world stuck up a zipwire clutching a flag and pleading with his aides to get him down
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