Boris Johnson did say this about Gordon Brown becoming Prime Minister without an election

31 July 2019

What was claimed

Boris Johnson said in 2007 that Gordon Brown should not have become Prime Minister after Tony Blair with no public vote.

Our verdict

That is true.

A Facebook post claiming Boris Johnson said Gordon Brown becoming Prime Minister without a general election was a “scandal” and “nothing less than a palace coup” has been shared almost 3,000 times on Facebook.

Boris Johnson did indeed write these words in 2007, in the Telegraph, while MP for Henley.

This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as true as he did write this.

Related topics

Social media

Full Fact fights bad information

Bad information ruins lives. It promotes hate, damages people’s health, and hurts democracy. You deserve better.

Subscribe to weekly email newsletters from Full Fact for updates on politics, immigration, health and more. Our fact checks are free to read but not to produce, so you will also get occasional emails about fundraising and other ways you can help. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy.