Boris Johnson reveals he'd love 'a crack' at being PM

BORIS JOHNSON has admitted he would like a "crack" at being Prime Minister, but insists "it's not going to happen". The London mayor says in a television profile called Boris Johnson: the Irresistible Rise to be shown on BBC2 next week: "Obviously, if the ball came loose from the back of a scrum - which it won't - it would be a great, great thing to have a crack at."

The mayor's words come at a "sensitive time" for David Cameron, who has been "beset by rumours of leadership plots against him", says The Times. Home Secretary Theresa May and Tory backbencher Adam Afriyie have both been positioning themselves to succeed Cameron, but until now, Johnson has "kept out of" leadership speculation.

Also, the veteran Tory MP Sir Peter Tapsell has reportedly told the PM he is "keeping his seat warm" for Johnson should he wish to return to Westminster.

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The BBC2 profile provides a fascinating insight into the relationship between Johnson and Cameron. Johnson, 48, was two years ahead of the PM at Eton, but tells the programme makers he has only limited memories of his fellow Conservative.

"I do remember Dave," Johnson says. "Someone said to me once, 'That's Cameron mi' and there was this tiny chap, I dimly remember."

Johnson's sister Rachel tells the BBC that her brother feels a "continuing superiority" over Cameron. "When they're together it's rather sweet, because David Cameron - even though he's taller - looks at Boris as if he's still head boy at Eton," she says.

Asked if her brother was resentful that Cameron had become PM, Rachel says: "No, it gives Boris a sense of continuing superiority because he was Captain of the School."

During his interview, Johnson is shown the "infamous" photograph of him posing next to Cameron and George Osborne as members of the elitist Oxford University society, the Bullingdon Club. Johnson describes the image as "a truly shameful vignette of almost superhuman undergraduate arrogance and toffishness and twittishness.

"But you know it was great fun at the time," he adds.