Boris: ‘Nick Clegg is a prophylactic protection device’
The mayor of London effectively called the deputy prime minister a condom today, in a colourful new low in their ongoing war of words
Speaking on his LBC call-in show, Boris Johnson said: "He's there to fulfil a very important ceremonial function as David Cameron's lapdog-cum-prophylactic protection device for all the difficult things that David Cameron has to do that cheese off the rest of the … you know what I mean.
"He's a kind of shield. He's a lapdog who's been skinned and turned into a shield."
The comment is just the latest broadside between the two men, who both do phone-in slots on the London station.
The mayor previously called the Lib Dem leader a "great yellow albatross" who had been "converted by taxidermy into a protective shield" for the prime minister.
In return, Clegg calls the mayor "slacker Johnson" and has said he is guilty of "unpleasant, careless elitism".
The comment came after Johnson was asked if he agreed with Clegg that George Osborne's plans to further cut welfare were "extreme".
He insisted he did not want to get into a row with "Cleggers" but said the chancellor was right to look at all areas of spending.
"I remain perplexed as to why we contribute aid money to some of these countries that are on the path to prosperity," he added.
