Claim

Johnson was asked by a reporter from the Rotherham Advertiser whether he still thought the police was “spaffing up the wall” money on historic child sex abuse investigations. He replied: “I didn’t say that actually.”

Facts

He had, six months earlier, live on LBC radio. He said on 13 March: “I think an awful lot of money and an awful lot of police time now goes into these historic offences and all this malarkey. You know, £60million I saw was being spaffed up a wall on some investigation into historic child abuse.” Johnson had been criticised at the time for his choice of words. The word “spaff” can mean to waste money. But according to the online Urban Dictionary, it is also “a term for masturbation made popular by E4 comedy The Inbetweeners.”

Verdict

Johnson’s denial that he had said police money was being “spaffed up the wall” was a lie.