Boris Johnson has refused to apologise for past sexist comments - despite his pledge to ‘address the issue of casual sexism’

Downing Street has refused to say that Prime Minister Boris Johnson regrets using “sexist language” during his career as a journalist, after he demanded an end to “everyday sexism”.

A Prime Minister’s Questions, Johnson said: “We have to address the fundamental issue of the casual everyday sexism and apathy that fails to address the concerns of women - that is the underlying issue.”

Johnson’s Press Secretary Allegra Stratton said that he was being “candid and frank with the country about the measures and the steps we are all going to have to take to make sure that women and girls feel safer and more comfortable on the streets of their own country”.

Sexist language

However, Stratton and Johnson’s official spokesperson both refused to say whether the Prime Minister regretted his sexist language, and instead insisted that Johnson has a “strong track record” on support for women and girls.

In 1995, Johnson wrote in a Spectator article that the children of single mothers were “ill raised, ignorant, aggressive and illegitimate”, and called for action to “restore women’s desire to be married”.

In other Spectator article, Johnson also criticised “the modern Briton [for] his reluctance or inability to take control of his woman”.

In 1996, whilst he was a journalist for the Telegraph, Johnson wrote a piece reviewing the quality of the “hot totty” present at a Labour conference.

In another Telegraph article in 1997, Johnson wrote that “emotional” women after often “bubbling blondes” or “collapsing with emotion”.

In a piece marking his exit as editor of the Spectator, Johnson wrote about Kimberly Quinn, who was then the Spectator’s publisher. He advised his successor that when Quinn comes around with suggestions for boosting circulation to “just pat her on the bottom and send her on her way”.

In 2012 when he was serving as Mayor of London, Johnson wrote about the London Olympics - but not about the medals that the UK won. Instead, he decided to focus on female athletes in the field of volleyball.