Boris Johnson allegedly made "problematic remarks" including that he "wished he was black", a journalist claims.
Afua Hirsch - who is of British-Ghanaian heritage - suggested that the former Prime Minister made the comments at a party which he attended with his then wife, Marina Wheeler in 2008.
The allegations were made by Hirsch in a write-up of an interview with Wheeler, who suggested she has "blocked" the comments from her memory.
Wheeler married Johnson in 1993 before splitting in 2018 and divorcing in 2020.
Boris Johnson allegedly made "problematic remarks" including that he "wished he was black", according to a journalistGETTY"I met Wheeler once before, in 2008, at a friend’s party the night Barack Obama was elected US president, which we both agree feels like a lifetime ago," Hirsch wrote in British Vogue.
"She was still married to Johnson, who was there with her, and who – true to form – made some problematic remarks about my own racial heritage. After demanding to know ‘where I was from’, he commented that he ‘wished he was black’.
"Marina says she remembers me, but not what her then husband said, and groans when I tell her the story. ‘Good thing I blocked all of those things out,’ she says."
Hirsch was born in Norway to a British father and Ghanaian mother.
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Previously, The Guardian and Sky News journalist accused Johnson of making a "litany of racist statements" and claimed his "oafish stupidity" was part of his "electoral brand".
After splitting with her husband, Wheeler became Labour's "whistleblowing tsar" which involves clamping down on sexual harassment at work.
Speaking about her divorce, she said: "I suppose I do feel that, as you become more senior as a woman, and, I guess, post-divorce, if I’m honest, it does free you up.
"You can look at the world again and do things that can make a difference."
Afua Hirsch - who is of British-Ghanaian heritage - suggested that the former Prime Minister made the comments at a party which he attended with his then wife, Marina Wheeler in 2008
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But added that she is "decidedly not party political".
"I like the fact that I’ve had feet in lots of different camps, but always slightly been a bit anthropological about it and just interested in observing how people function," she said.
A spokesperson for Johnson declined to comment.
