Boris Johnson lost for words as he loses place in bizarre speech to business leaders

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Addressing the CBI’s annual conference in the Port of Tyne, Mr Johnson compared himself to Moses, made “vroom, vroom” car noises, cracked risque jokes, stumbled over his words, fell silent for almost half a minute after losing his place in his text and asked his audience of senior business executives to put their hands up if they had visited Peppa Pig World. “Hands up who’s been to Peppa Pig World.” As few of the CBI bigwigs lifted their hands, the prime minister commented: “Not enough. “It has very safe streets, discipline in schools, heavy emphasis on mass transit systems, I notice, even if they are a bit stereotypical about Daddy Pig.” In a TV interview after the speech, the PM was asked: “You lost your notes, you lost your place, you went off on a tangent about Peppa Pig – frankly, is everything OK?” He replied: “I think that people got the vast majority of the points I wanted to make, and I thought it went over well.” But he came under fire from Labour, whose shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “The prime minister’s shambolic speech today not only shows how unseriously he takes British business, but also how his government lacks any plan for growth or to propel our enterprising nations forward. “It is a perfect metaphor for Johnson’s chaotic, incompetent government as it trashes our economy, but it is not worthy of a British prime minister.” CBI director general Tony Danker said businesses would have been “heartened to hear the prime minister talk passionately about the role of the private sector working in partnership with the government to achieve our shared ambitions for a high- wage, high-skill, high-investment economy.” Mr Johnson returned to London to Tory demands for him to withdraw last-minute amendments to his social care plans which risk forcing poorer pensioners to sell their homes to pay for care, while wealthier individuals with assets above £186,000 are afforded much greater protection.