Aside from the strange boast about Elsie’s bus pass, his ownership of the policy is not exactly as he presented it.
The pass has a history going back to the 1980s, which predates the creation of the position of directly elected mayor.
Johnson did make the freedom pass apply for 24 hours per day (except on some national train services) in early 2009, says FullFact, but free 24-7 bus travel for pensioners was curtailed in 2020.
The fact-checkers said: “As Mayor of London, Boris Johnson did change the Freedom Pass so it applied 24 hours a day on most services, although he did not introduce it originally.
“Following a bailout deal between Transport for London and Mr Johnson’s government in 2020, it no longer functions 24 hours a day.”
Economic growth
Johnson’s claims the government had powered to a strong economic position after emerging from the Covid pandemic caused another flashpoint.
“That is what we are achieving,” he began. “It’s because of the steps this government took during the pandemic to get us out of the pandemic in a strong way.
“With the fastest economic growth in the G7.”
Reid interjected: “Okay, we’ve heard you say this before.”
And Johnson fired back: “Well, you’ve just told me I haven’t been on your programme for five years, so you can’t have heard me.”
Reid argued: “But I do listen and watch all your other interviews.”
Away from the back and forth, FullFact suggests the claim is misleading. It says:
“According to the latest data, the UK had the highest growth in 2021 among G7 nations. However this is partly due to a technicality concerning how the UK measures GDP, which increased the apparent scale of both the fall and the recovery. The UK’s economy has shrunk by about 0.4% since the start of the pandemic, making it the fifth best performing among the G7 nations.”