Johnson: 'Mutton-Headed' Corbyn Would Be Threat To National Security

Electing Jeremy Corbyn as prime minister would be a threat to national security, Boris Johnson has claimed.

The Foreign Secretary said Mr Corbyn had "no grasp of the need for this country to be strong in the world" and questioned how he would respond to the "semi-deranged" regime in North Korea.

In an article for The Sun, Mr Johnson said:

"The biggest risk with Jeremy Corbyn is that people just don't get what a threat he really is."

Mr Johnson's highly personal attack on the Labour leader continued:

"They watch his meandering and nonsensical questions and they feel a terrible twinge of human compassion. Well, they say to themselves: he may be a mutton-headed old mugwump, but he is probably harmless."

But Mr Johnson insisted: "It is absolutely vital for Britain's security that we have the strong, stable and decisive leadership of Theresa May."

Russia was "interfering blatantly with European democracies", Kim Jong Un was leading a "semi-deranged regime in North Korea, bent on getting nuclear weapons that could one day be used to strike this country" and the UK and its allies were taking on an "Islamist death cult".

"Where is Corbyn on any of these issues?" Mr Johnson asked.

"He seems to have no grasp of the need for this country to be strong in the world."

He added: "Just when Kim Jong Un is on the verge of acquiring a really deadly nuclear weapon, Britain could be on the verge of acquiring Jeremy Corbyn as PM - a man whose brilliant idea of a nuclear deterrent is that we should send our nuclear subs to sea with no nuclear missiles aboard."

On Brexit, Mr Corbyn would be "disastrous", the Foreign Secretary claimed, while warning that the UK would be "totally stiffed" in Brexit negotiations if the Labour leader was dealing with Brussels.

"Corbyn's approach would be a recipe for paralysis and uncertainty - and for Britain to get totally stiffed in the negotiations."

Shadow cabinet minister John Healey said he had to look up the word "mugwump" and criticised Mr Johnson for attention-seeking.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme:

"I think this is Boris Johnson feeling left out of the election campaign and it's the sort of look-at-me name calling that you would expect in an Eton playground."

"I simply don't want to sink to that sort of level to respond, I think it demeans the position of Britain's Foreign Secretary.

"And I would say to him, I suppose, on a serious point, don't attack the person, debate the policies, get your leader to do that on TV with Jeremy Corbyn and let the people see a leaders' debate in this election campaign, like they did last time."

Mr Johnson denied he had been sidelined from the Conservative election campaign by Theresa May, telling ITV1's Good Morning Britain: "I've been working very hard."

Labour, meanwhile, stepped up its campaign on domestic issues, with Mr Corbyn attacking the Tories over their record on housing.

Mr Corbyn will set out Labour's plans to build a million homes, including at least 500,000 council houses, in response to Tory failures to tackle the problem. He'll say:

"The system is rigged, with housing treated as an investment for the few, not homes for the many." 

"Seven years of Conservative failure ... shows that they will never fix the housing crisis, which is holding so many people back."