Boris Johnson filmed sitting at controls of Typhoon fighter jet as Labour claim he has 'checked out'

Boris Johnson has been accused of having “checked out” of No 10 after taking a spin in a fighter jet.

Downing Street has released footage of the Prime Minister at the controls of a Typhoon last week.

He shot a selfie video from the jet, which he described as having taken off from RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire like a “vertical firecracker”.

The Prime Minister spoke about the experience at the Farnborough International Airshow on Monday.

“I pushed the joystick right over to the right and we did an aileron roll,” he told an audience there.

“And I pulled the joystick right back and we did a fantastic loop the loop, and then I did a more complicated thing called a barrel roll and I pushed the stick up and right a bit.”

Johnson said they then “started to pull a few Gs” before he apparently lost consciousness and entered a dream about wind farms “harvesting the drained prairies of the North Sea”.

“This reverie must have gone on for quite a while because then my colleague said ‘I’m taking back control now’, and we headed happily home,” he added

Over the weekend, Johnson held a party for friends at his country retreat, Chequers, where they were reportedly treated to burgers and sparkling English wine.

However, the Prime Minister faced criticism from Labour, with the party’s leader Keir Starmer claiming that Johnson has “basically checked out” and is “not really doing anything”.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman argued that Johnson has a role in directing the RAF in worst-case scenarios, “so it is important he is aware of some of these capabilities they have”.

Asked if he needs first-hand experience to understand this, the spokesman said: “It’s important that he has a detailed understanding of the working capabilities of the RAF.”

The spokesman also insisted that no taxpayer money was used for the Chequers party and added: “It is not unusual in Cabinet Government for Cabinet ministers to chair these sorts of things.”