Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson engaged in a fiery shouting match with Sky News anchor Trevor Phillips on his morning show, repeatedly yelling "nonsense!" as the pair clashed over migration figures. The heated exchange erupted when Phillips attempted to question Johnson about the consequences of his government's immigration policies, which critics have dubbed the "Boriswave."
Clash Over Migration Figures
Phillips began the segment by stating, "Migration. Whoever turns out to be Andy Burnham's home secretary is going to have to deal with the consequences, which are both practical and political, of decisions that you took to open the doors to, what in the end became a wave net migration of knocking on a million. What people now call the Boriswave." Johnson immediately interrupted, insisting, "Nonsense. Nonsense."
As Phillips tried to continue, Johnson cut him off again, shouting "Nonsense!" Phillips responded calmly, "Let me finish the question so you can answer the question!" but was met with another muttered "nonsense" from Johnson.
Questioning the Boriswave
Phillips then asked, "It's nonsense. This has been a surge for Nigel Farage. Was that a mistake?" Johnson deflected, saying, "Look, first of all the Reform party, I don't know whether they were even called that! They were on about 0% when I was prime minister, okay? When I resigned they were on 0%."
Phillips countered, "We hadn't heard the Boriswave yet, when you were prime minister. We had the decisions but we didn't have the people arriving." Johnson retorted, "Sorry, that's nonsense. In that case it was nothing to do with me, because-"
Johnson's Defense
Johnson attempted to explain, "Two things happened, two things happened, two things happened. We had Brexit and we had Covid, right? So, so, so what happened first of all was migration fell to its lowest level in 40 years. Okay? My first full year as prime minister, 2020, net migration was the lowest-" An irate Phillips pointed out, "Because of Covid! That wasn't policy, that was a pandemic!"
Johnson continued, "So what happened the following year was we had an increase. What we then had was the ability, because of Brexit, to reduce that to 0% if you want. And because, thanks to what we did, you asked about the decisions I took... The most important decision I took and the most difficult to deliver in the House of Commons, most members of which voted against leaving the EU, the most important thing was to go for a hard Brexit. And a hard Brexit meant that we came out of the single market. We came out of the customs union, and we were no longer party to EU arrangements on movement of people."
