Yahoo News 'I apologise to mugwumps everywhere': Boris Johnson continues to mock Jeremy Corbyn
People waking up on Thursday were confused as to why many were suddenly asking "what is a mugwump?"
Boris Johnson has apologised to "mugwumps everywhere" after savaging Jeremy Corbyn first in a Sun column and then on Good Morning Britain.
The Foreign Secretary drew criticism when he branded the Labour leader a "mutton-headed old mugwump" in a scathing attack.
In the Sun, he claimed the electorate should not be fooled by Corbyn’s “meandering and nonsensical questions”.
He said: “They say to themselves: he may be a mutton-headed old mugwump, but he is probably harmless."
After drawing criticism, Mr Johnson defended his comments, telling Good Morning Britain: "people don't know what a threat he really is!".
What is a mugwump? | Boris Johnson's comments
When asked what a mugwump was, he said it was not a creature from Harry Potter but a "political put-down".
Boris Johnson's choice of words made an impact, being discussed on almost every news channel.
"Mugwump" even began to trend on Twitter as people wondered what exactly it meant, and whether Mr Johnson made a good move.
The mugwump thing tells you nothing about Corbyn and quite a lot about Johnson and Crosby.
— Jim Pickard (@PickardJE) April 27, 2017
Boris Johnson has been unleashed, and he's called Jeremy Corbyn a "mutton-headed old mugwump" in The Sun. Fantastic. #GE2017
— Will McSaboteur (@WillMcHoebag) April 26, 2017
BJ: "You are a mugwump"
JC: "I am not a mugwump!"
Media: "Is JC a mugwump? Two different views here in the studio"
Me: "WTF is a mugwump?"— (((Max Wind-Cowie))) (@MaxWindCowie) April 27, 2017
Somewhere in Labour HQ a group of men and women are sitting round a table earnestly asking "what do we do about our Mugwump problem?".
— (((Dan Hodges))) (@DPJHodges) April 27, 2017
What's a #mugwump ?! Is it something from Harry Potter? It's a political put down according to #borisjohnson@GMB
— Jonathan Swain (@SwainITV) April 27, 2017
Quite right - Boris has a genius for finding a word, or phrase, that can go viral. Prepare for lots of comment on the word "Mugwump" today. https://t.co/xwX3N4t11W
— Fraser Nelson (@FraserNelson) April 27, 2017
Labour's John Healy said on BBC Radio 4 that he was disappointed by Mr Johnson's comments, saying that they "demeaned the position of Foreign Secretary" and that it amounted to "playground name-calling".
He said: “First of all I had to look that up. I think this is Boris Johnson feeling left out of the election campaign and it is the sort of look-at-me name-calling that you would expect in an Eton playground. I don’t want to sink to that sort of level.”
