Boris refuses to resign

Last updated at 15:39 20 October 2004


Tory MP Boris Johnson says he will not resign as editor of the Spectator, after visiting Liverpool to apologise for remarks made in his magazine about beheaded hostage Ken Bigley and the Hillsborough tragedy.

The MP for Henley created a storm of protest after the publication of a leader written in The Spectator, which he edits, which claimed Liverpudlians were "hooked on grief".

On a visit to the city, Johnson told reporters: "I don't feel I should resign. I think that would be a kind of admission that the whole point of the leader was wrong. I would have to kind of perform a full frontal lobotomy on myself.

"I can't resign over something I don't fundamentally dissent from."

'Media jamboree'

Mr Johnson later said the reason for the cloak of secrecy which surrounded his visit was to prevent the event becoming a "media jamboree".

But the Liverpool Echo newspaper suggested it was, in fact, Mr Johnson who was creating his own circus by mocking up a picture of him disguised as a clown.

The Tory MP told the paper: "One of the sad things about today is that it is a complete media jamboree. The police have said I can't go to any of the museums and that's very, very sad.

"I'm going to have to come back when I'm less likely to be pelted with eggs."

Bigley attack

Ken Bigley's brother Paul confronted Mr Johnson during a heated local radio phone-in, calling the MP a "self-centred, pompous twit".

Mr Johnson repeated his apologies to the family, saying: "I cannot say anything that will alter your opinion of me.

"In the leader we did extend our sympathies to you and your family and condemn the appalling sufferings that your family has endured."

Mr Bigley dismissed Mr Johnson and told him to "get out of public life."

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