A journalist who Boris Johnson discussed helping a friend to have beaten up is demanding an apology from the Tory leadership candidate.
In 1990, Johnson was secretly recorded agreeing to provide the address of the News of the World reporter Stuart Collier to his friend Darius Guppy, who had told him he wanted to arrange for Collier to have his ribs cracked in revenge for his investigation of his affairs.
Collier said that when he learned of the call, he and his wife worried for their safety. He told his wife to be careful when answering the front door.
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“I took it seriously at the time and it concerned me,” he told The Guardian. “I was worried, certainly worried enough to put my wife on a warning.”
Collier’s wife, Jennifer, a lifelong Tory voter, said of Johnson: “He should be accountable for the things that he’s done. I think it’s disgraceful behaviour.
“These people seem to think they don’t have to live by the same moral standards as the rest of us. They think because they went to Eton they don’t have to be answerable to things, and I just think his moral compass is way off the scale.”
During the infamous 21-minute telephone call, Johnson informed Guppy he had tried four contacts to obtain the reporter’s details.
Guppy told him: “I am telling you something, Boris, this guy has got my blood up, all right, and there is nothing which I won’t do to get my revenge. It’s as simple as that.”
Guppy describes himself as a “potential psychopath” and offers “his word of honour” that Boris’ role in the plot will remain a secret. Johnson is heard saying at the end of the call: “OK, Darry, I said I’ll do it. I’ll do it, don’t worry.”
Confronted about the recording by the BBC in 2013, Johnson said: “Yes, it was certainly true that he was in a bit of a state, and I did humour him in a long phone conversation, from which absolutely nothing eventuated and… you know, there you go.”
Guppy ended up being jailed for a £1.8m fraud. Johnson is the favourite to be the next prime minister.
