Boris Johnson turned away from polling station after forgetting ID
By Rob Harris
London: Former British prime minister Boris Johnson was turned away from a polling station when trying to cast his vote in local elections after he forgot to bring acceptable photo ID.
Johnson, who introduced the contentious new law mandating photo ID when voting while he was at Downing Street, was reportedly trying to cast his ballot in South Oxfordshire, where a police and crime commissioner for the Thames Valley was being selected.
Britain’s former prime minister Boris Johnson.Credit: AP
Sky News first reported that polling station staff were forced to turn Johnson away after he initially failed to comply with his own legislation.
Under the laws, passports, driving licences, blue badges and certain local travel cards are accepted forms of voter ID.
A spokesman for Johnson did not deny he had failed to bring ID, but told The Spectator: “Mr Johnson voted Conservative”.
Johnson defended the requirements at the time amid criticism that they would make it too hard to vote, claiming evidence of identity was not an “unreasonable” request to make.
But when he was a newspaper columnist for the London Telegraph in 2004, Johnson had railed against the idea of ID cards, writing: “If I am ever asked, on the streets of London, or in any other venue, public or private, to produce my ID card as evidence that I am who I say I am … then I will take that card out of my wallet and physically eat it in the presence of whatever emanation of the state has demanded that I produce it”.
Downing Street vowed to ensure veterans’ ID cards would be acceptable at future elections after reports a serviceman too was reportedly turned away on Thursday (Friday AEST).
Veterans’ Affairs Minister Johnny Mercer said the cards started coming out after the legislation on acceptable ID had been introduced, with a spokesperson for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak later promising it would be “officially added to the list”.
The spokesperson added that “the vast majority of voters have cast their votes successfully”.
The laws were passed in 2022 and came into effect in 2023. They were first used in a handful of local elections last year, but Thursday was the first time they’d been implemented in the London mayoral election – where 6.2 million are registered to vote – and in several major councils throughout regional England.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan and his wife Saadiya arrive with their dog Luna to cast their votes in the London mayoral election on Thursday.Credit: Getty Images
People can apply for a proxy to go to the ballot box on their behalf in limited circumstances, including if they are away on polling day, are a registered overseas voter or have a medical issue or disability.
Independent analysis of last year’s May council elections found that 0.25 per cent of voters who tried to vote at a polling station were unable to because of the voter ID requirement, equivalent to about 14,000 people.
It also found that about 4 per cent of non-voters said they did not vote because of the ID requirement. An Electoral Commission report, produced in September 2023, confirmed its interim findings that some people found it harder than others to show accepted voter ID, including disabled people, younger voters, people from ethnic minority communities, and the unemployed.
Local elections were held across 107 English councils, including 31 metropolitan boroughs, 18 unitary councils and 58 district councils and in 11 mayoral elections, including a contest for mayor of London, as well as elections to the London Assembly, with 25 seats available.
With a general election looming, the results will be viewed through a national prism, with a bad result for the ruling Conservative Party likely to cause great concern and more leadership speculation for Sunak.
Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.