Under pressure Prime Minister Boris Johnson channeled Disney hit The Lion King as he attempted to rally staff after a series of resignations from Downing Street.
His premiership continues to hang in the balance after partygate allegations and the self-inflicted wound of the Jimmy Savile ‘slur’ aimed at Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer – the PM later ‘clarified’ his remarks, but did not apologise.
Today, TheMirror reports that Mr Johnson quoted Rafiki, the philosopher Mandrill of Disney’s The Lion King 1994 hit movie by saying “change is good”.
It reported the PM as saying: “As Rafiki in the Lion King says, change is good, and change is necessary even though it’s tough.
“We’ve got to get on with our job of serving the people of this country.”
His official spokesman confirmed the PM used the line when he addressed staff in the Cabinet Room today (Friday, February 4), PA reports.
The spokesman told reporters: “He reflected on the privilege of working in No 10 in order to deliver for the British people and reiterated his and No 10’s commitment to serving the public by keeping people safe, improving lives and spreading opportunity.
“As he reiterated to the team today, there is an important job to do, the public expects us to be focused on it, whether it is the situation in Ukraine, recovering from the pandemic or, as the Chancellor was setting out yesterday, on issues such as cost of living.”
Earlier, a Government minister refused to say whether Mr Johnson was right to accuse Sir Keir Starmer of failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile for child sexual abuse.
No 10 policy chief Munira Mirza denounced the Prime Minister’s “scurrilous” claims when she quit on Thursday, while Chancellor Rishi Sunak said he would not have made those remarks.
Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today program whether he would have made the comments, energy minister Greg Hands said: “It is not my job to opine on these things. I am the energy minister.
“These are very serious matters in terms of child sexual abuse and what happened through the course of the Jimmy Savile events and the inquiry and so on.
“My job is the energy minister, that is a big job. In politics you don’t have to have an opinion on everything.”