BORIS Johnson has made yet another embarrassing geographical error after he mixed up Teesside with Tyneside.
After campaigning in Whitley Bay in the North East of England, the Prime Minister tweeted he had been speaking to voters in Teesside when the seaside town is actually in Tyneside some 40 miles further north.
It's not the first time Johnson has said he was somewhere he wasn't after he once claimed COP26 had taken place in Edinburgh rather than Glasgow during a Downing Street press conference.
And back in 2018 when he was Foreign Secretary, he had to be spoken to by then prime minister Theresa May after he repeatedly mixed up Yemen with Lebanon during a cabinet discussion on the Yemen civil war.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon confident of victory in 2023 Scottish independence vote
At the meeting, he said: “We have got to do something about the Saudi war on Lebanon…”
Ministers thought it was a momentary slip initially but, to their shock, he then repeated the mistake despite Lebanon being 1400 miles away from Yemen and not involved in the conflict.
His latest mishap has not been well received by opposition MPs in the Teesside and Tyneside regions.
Bridget Phillipson, Labour MP for Houghton and Sunderland South, said on Twitter: "Teesside, Tyneside, all the same to him. He doesn’t even know where he is. Britain deserves better.”
READ MORE: 'Boris Johnson like a sleeper agent for Scottish independence,' says comedian Nish Kumar
Tynemouth MP Alan Campbell added: “The PM believes he was campaigning in Teesside. Actually, he was in Whitley Bay North Tyneside. He doesn’t really care where he is or what he says.
“He doesn’t really care about who he meets or what they care about.”
Erm…how to say this…?
— Angela Rayner 🌹 (@AngelaRayner) May 2, 2022
That’s 𝐍𝐎𝐓 Teesside.#WhitleyBay pic.twitter.com/fxb7ZaQs5A
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner also pointed out the PM's blunder and tweeted: "Erm…how to say this…? That’s NOT Teesside.”
The Labour North group mocked the PM as well with a joke "Where's the Wally?" map, detailing how far Whitley Bay was from Teesside and telling him to bring a map next time.
Care about the North East? He doesn't even know where he is.
— Labour North (@LabourNorth) May 2, 2022
Bring a map to your next photo op @BorisJohnson. pic.twitter.com/7Ds8Pp9EV8
Johnson has since deleted the post and put out another tweet, but this time he decided to not bother trying to be specific about where he was.
It says: “It was a fantastic day to be out campaigning in the North East.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel