Johnson: Gordon Brown is ‘like a drunk’

Boris Johnson, the Conservative Mayor of London, has used his column in the Daily Telegraph to launch a personal attack on Gordon Brown, accusing the PM of – among other things - behaving like a drunk. Writes Johnson: "You know what, I have now heard more than enough about how much Gordon Brown is enjoying this recession. Every time you read about the Prime Minister, they tell you that his mood is getting better and better.

"They say that he was giving a speech the other day, and his mobile phone went. ‘Aha,’ quipped funster Gordon Brown, ‘that'll be another bank going bust!’ Isn't he a scream?"

No, says Johnson (pictured), he is not. After accusing the PM of being a "manic meddler", he turns on Brown's decision to borrow and spend his way out of the recession, which he sees as no more than a colossal gamble to get Labour re-elected in 2010.

"He [Brown] is like some sherry-crazed old dowager who has lost the family silver at roulette, and who now decides to double up by betting the house as well. He is like a drunk who has woken to the most appalling hangover, and who reaches for the whisky bottle to help him dull the pain."

Johnson’s attack was published just as many observers claimed that Brown’s economic rescue plans threaten London’s prosperity. The higher tax announced yesterday for people earning above £150,000 is expected to lead to a brain drain from the capital, while the effects of the tax rise on alcohol could, according to Rob Hayward, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, lead to a London pub closing every day.