Boris Johnson is finally doing some constituency work - but he's even messing that up

Boris Johnson has been out of office for a good few months now and it looks like he's finally remembered he has a constituency to represent.

The MP for Uxbridge turned up to the commons yesterday to make a dig at London mayor Sadiq Khan who he called on to save a police station in his constituency.

Addressing home secretary Suella Braverman, he said: "Given that entry pay rates have already, on the streets of London alone, attracted another 4,734 more police officers to join the Metropolitan Police, and given how vitally important it is to continue to provide the right place for those new recruits to be properly trained, will she agree with me that Uxbridge remains the most sensible place – in Hillingdon – to have a police station?"And will she join me in passing that view to the present mayor of London?"

Braverman said in response that Johnson “speaks a lot of sense as usual”, adding: “He has a huge amount of which to be proud of when it comes to increasing the number of police officers on the front line, fighting crime and standing up for victims – something that Labour has opposed at every opportunity.”

She also suggested Johnson should “give up some of his precious time to advise the current mayor of London, who is wholly failing on fighting crime”.

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“Having seen a 9 per cent increase in crime in London, he really could take some advice from his predecessor,” she added.

It is nice to see Johnson doing some work for a change but as usual, it looks like he could be passing the buck. After all, the policy of closing local police stations was introduced in 2013, when Johnson was mayor.

Under the plans, 65 police stations across London were earmarked for closure, leaving just one publicly-accessible station in each borough.

Meanwhile, the Guardian's Pippa Crerar said that it is only the fourth time Johnson has mentioned Uxbridge in the 7.5 years he has represented the constituency.

And a series of polls have shown Johnson could lose his seat in the next general election, so forgive us if we think he is not completely guided with integrity.

But at least he's doing some work.

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