MPs all off on holiday during first ‘People’s PMQs’, Boris Johnson says

Boris Johnson bemoaned MPs being “all off on holiday” as he held his first “People’s PMQs” session from Downing Street.

The Prime Minister used Facebook Live to answer questions from his desk, having previously used the same site to announce details on an immigration policy.

He addressed questions on Brexit before moving on to the union, mental health and knife crime – with many of his answers circling on messages and themes already aired since he arrived in Number 10.

Mr Johnson opened by saying: “Good afternoon, I am speaking to you live from my desk in Downing Street for the first-ever ‘People’s PMQs’.

“At the moment, I’m afraid MPs are all off on holiday but I can take questions unpasteurised, unmediated, from you via this machine.”

At this moment, he pointed to a tablet on his desk before reading out a question which appeared to be queued up for him.

In answer to the final question on his political hero, Mr Johnson said: “Obviously Winston Churchill is one, but I am going to mention Pericles of Athens who believed in all sorts of wonderful things.

“He certainly believed in great infrastructure projects, he believed in the importance of the many, not the few, but above all Pericles will go down as one of the most powerful articulators of the idea of democracy – which is that the people are in charge of their own destiny.

“Because the people took that decision to leave the European Union, we’re going to come out on October 31 whatever happens.

“Anyway, I think that’s all I’ve got time for today for this edition of ‘People’s PMQs’. Thank you all very much for tuning in.”

The broadcast lasted for some 13 minutes and 30 seconds, although this included a 60-second countdown and a video before Mr Johnson answered questions for around 12 minutes.

The Facebook Live received more than 4,000 comments, 661 shares and 51,000 views.

It also received 1,700 likes, 825 “love” reactions and 129 “angry” reactions.