Boris Johnson once said the selfish mayor in Jaws was the ‘real hero’

Boris Johnson is facing a lot of criticism for his failure to give clear and direct instructions to the public about coronavirus.

After what's felt like weeks and weeks of saying he didn't want do put in strict restrictions, from shutting down pubs to banning people from going outside, he's finally introduced new measures to stop the spread of the virus.

British people who aren't "key workers" are supposed to stay inside with members of their household, only venturing outside for essentials or one form of exercise a day.

But recently unearthed quotes from 2006 might hint at why he’s taken such a slow approach to fighting the disease..

Addressing an audience at Lloyd’s in London, Johnson said:

The real hero of Jaws is the mayor. A gigantic fish is eating all your constituents and he decides to keep the beaches open. OK, in that instance he was actually wrong. But in principle, we need more politicians like the Mayor. We are often the only obstacle against all the nonsense which is really a massive conspiracy against the taxpayer.

For those that need reminding, Mayor Vaughn is the antagonist in Steven Spielberg’s 1975 masterpiece, Jaws. This is a man who puts profit over safety to the last and insists that business will operate as usual over the early July bank holiday weekend on beaches under attack by a great white shark.

We can only hope the consequences of Johnson’s actions (or inaction, some would say) don't prove as bad as those for the fictional folk of Amity Island.