Yahoo News Boris Johnson Turned Away From Polling Station For Not Having ID
Boris Johnson was turned away from his local polling station today for not having the necessary identification.
The former prime minister - who introduced the controversial voter ID legislation when he was in Downing Street - tried to cast his local elections ballot in South Oxfordshire.
However, he was blocked from doing so by officials because he did not have any photographic evidence of who he was.
An embarrassed Johnson had to go home to collect some ID before finally returning to the polling station.
A spokesman for the ex-PM said: “Mr Johnson voted Conservative.”
The mix-up is particularly embarrassing for Johnson because he previously described claims that the voter ID rules could prevent people from voting as “complete nonsense”.
Speaking in 2021, he said: “What we want to do is to protect democracy, the transparency and the integrity of the electoral process, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask first time voters to produce some evidence of identity.”
Incredible. When I told Boris Johnson three years ago that his Voter ID law would stop people from being able to vote he told me I was talking "total nonsense"
Now Sky News reports he was turned away from voting for "failing to bring acceptable voter ID" pic.twitter.com/gjvsp7xyEV— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) May 2, 2024
Johnson was not the only Conservative to have trouble with the voter ID rules today.
Tory MP Tom Hunt issued an appeal for help after discovering he did not have any of the required types of identification.
Less than 12 hours before polls opened, the Ipswich MP asked if anyone would help him vote by proxy.
He later said on X (formerly Twitter): “I do tend to be bad at losing stuff. I’m also very dyspraxic. Though I don’t want to blame this on everything it does make things challenging for me and I do my best but I do lose things and today it was my passport.
“I find it shocking how Labour figures locally have sought to exploit this situation. Saying ‘don’t be like Tom Hunt’, kind of like ‘don’t be dyspraxic’.
“They claim to want a more inclusive Parliament then pile on when I make a genuine human error.
“Thank you to the Ipswich Borough Council officers who helped me sort my proxy vote today. The vote is cast. No surprises how I voted.”
