Tory peer claims the PM resigned used colourful language to describe his Foreign Office term
Caretaker UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson once described his job as foreign secretary – the post he held from 2016 to 2018 – as being “imprisoned in a steel condom.”The savage turn of phrase was revealed by Baroness Davidson in an LBC interview.
Ruth Davidson resigned from her position as Scottish Conservative leader in 2019, just after Johnson was made prime minister. Since then, she has been harshly critical of Johnson. Later, she was made baroness of Lundin Links County of Fife and currently sits in the House of Lords in her capacity as a Life peer.
Asked about personal stories about Johnson at an LBC performance during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Davidson referred to Johnson’s tenure as Foreign Office Director.
“He once described being foreign secretary to me as like being enclosed in a steel condom,” she told LBC’s Iain Dale. “I found it odd because I hadn’t asked him. It was the attention that he got from civil servants so that he wouldn’t speak. ‘Imprisoned in a steel condom’ is what he said.”
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“I’ve never heard that as a phrase,”Davidson was also added. “It would certainly affect performance, but this is not my area of expertise, as I think you’ve already covered.”In 2015, Davidson was made a lesbian.
Dale said that he was “quite surprised that Boris Johnson knows what a condom is,”This apparent reference is to the fact that the PM had seven children, two of which were with his current wife.
Johnson, a former journalist and mayor of London, served as foreign secretary in Theresa May’s cabinet for a salary of £145,000 ($175,000) a year. Johnson resigned as foreign secretary in Theresa May’s cabinet for a salary of PS145,000 ($175,000) per year and worked quietly to remove May. He resigned as Conservative leader in July 2018 amid widespread revolt within his cabinet. However, he will remain as the caretaker PM for another party leader until that happens.
The remaining two candidates to replace him are former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss – who has yet to comment on Johnson’s description of her job.
