Boris Johnson called out after falsely claiming he 'took London through riots' in 2011

Yesterday Boris Johnson launched his official campaign for Tory leadership with a speech that certainly drew a lot of criticism and controversy.

Amongst accusations of racism and drug abuse, which Johnson tactically avoided, the former foreign secretary made a huge claim about the 2011 London riots, when he was mayor of the capital city.

Johnson boldly declared that:

I took this city through riots and strikes and all the teething problems of the Olympic Games.

And with a team of stars we brought the city together — with new infrastructure, with renewed and relentless emphasis on education, with technology, we shrank that opportunity gap.

I want now to do for the whole country what we did in London; releasing the creative energies of our country and its peoples, and healing its divisions.

The big problem here is that Johnson possibly did the bare minimum required of any acting mayor in that type of situation as he refused to cut his holiday in North America short.

Johnson rejected initial calls for him to return, eventually arriving back in the capital on Tuesday, August 9, after much of the rioting had ceased.

At the time he said "I came as fast as I could" but was severely heckled by residents who had suffered damage to their property making his comments yesterday even more questionable.

Johnson's quote about the riots soon started to circulate on social media and people were quick to point out the truth to the supposed favourite to be the next prime minister.

Oh and don't forget about the three water cannons that he used to prevent any further social unrest which were deemed unusable and were eventually sold for scrap.

Boris Johnson has been contacted for comment.

More: Everything wrong with Boris Johnson’s intention to ‘unite the country’ in one tweet​