On yer’ bike, Boris! UK Prime Minster gifted Yamaha for Christmas
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is gifted with a motorcycle for Christmas to potentially get around being banned from cycling across London
If you see a Yamaha TT-R125 zipping around London streets any time soon, it is very possible the man under the helmet and gear is none other than British Prime Minster Boris Johnson.
BoJo, fresh from his success in December general election, is known as an avid biker and was a significant motivator for the launch of pay-as-you-go bicycles in London, or ‘Boris bikes’ as they were dubbed.
However, the PM was banned from cycling in London for security reasons, leaving a void that has reportedly been filled with the purchase of a motorcycle, according to the Mail on Sunday.
It says he received a second-hand Yamaha TT-R125 off-roader like this (BoJo NOT pictured!) by his girlfriend Carrie Symonds for Christmas.
The machine can reach speeds of up to 55mph and would be an ideal commuter between No.10 and his various engagements, but for the fact the ban on riding probably extends to motorcycles too…
Instead, Johnson may be found ripping up the greenery at the country retreat of Chequers in Buckinghamshire.
The present shouldn’t necessarily come as a surprise though. Johnson has already introduced some motorcycling buzzwords into the political lexicon after he was quoted as comparing the campaign as ‘like motocross’ because you ‘have to hang on’.
The quote came from BBC political correspondent Laura Kuenssberg, who recounted the story in documentary ‘The Brexit Storm Continues: Laura Kuensberg’s Inside Story’.
“Throughout it all, behind the scenes of Brexiteers and Pro-Remain Tories the one that really sticks in my mind where we were talking to Michael Gove during a particular fraught period. And remember, things were going badly for the Johnson government in the early days.
“There were lots of very, very sketchy days when it looks like they were kicking out of the party, they were losing cases in court and losing vote after vote.
“But one moment where Michael Gove relays a story where Boris Johnson tried to rally them on and he said, it is like motocross, you have to hang on and it will get bumpier and bumpier and all this stuff will fly in your face. But in the end, you hang on and you will get through.”