We at Boriswatch Towers are confused.
Regarding Bozza’s cameo on Eastenders, according to BBC News, “The mayor, who plays himself, had an argument with the landlady of the show’s Queen Vic pub, Peggy Mitchell, played by Barbara Windsor.”
Now, we have watched the episode several times and can’t find a cross word exchanged between the two. Sure, Peggy was a bit grumpy earlier in the episode after struggling to track the mayor down, but the second he wandered into the Queen Vic she melted and ended up flirting with Boris and taking a photo of the pair of them on her digital camera.
Former mayor Ken Livingstone has criticised the BBC for including Johnson in the soap after he was turned down twice by the Beeb as “they said it wouldn’t be right to have a politician on a soap.”
Defending his cameo, Mr Johnson said: “To those who say it is not much of a matter to appear with Barbara Windsor, she is a landmark of our culture. The arts, culture and media sectors in this city generate about £9bn, it is my job promote them just as much as anything else.”
(We will leave you to debate whether it is possible to include the words ‘Eastenders‘, ‘arts’ and ‘culture’ in the same sentence without laughing uproariously.)
Murad Qureshi, a Labour member of the London Assembly, said: “The BBC should always be even-handed and consistent when dealing with political figures, not turning down some and promoting others. It’s a coup for Boris, being portrayed as pretty straight guy on such a popular show. But I would question whether it’s in the BBC’s remit to influence the public’s perception in this way.”