The mayor of London made the comments during a keynote speech on the opening day of the Conservative party conference in Manchester.
Disrespect
Mr Johnson said: "No disrespect to Manchester. But if you want to stimulate the Manchester economy - and Leeds and Newcastle - you invest in London.
"London is the motor of the whole of the UK economy."
Mr Johnson had arrived on the stage at Manchester Central to the theme tune from EastEnders following his much-publicised appearance on the soap.
He immediately declared: "It is great to be in Manchester - one of the great British cities I am yet to insult."
That was a reference to offence caused in Liverpool in 2004 when Mr Johnson was editor of the Spectator. The magazine printed an editorial claiming the city was wallowing in 'disproportionate' grief over the death of Ken Bigley, a contractor who was murdered in Iraq.
Mr Johnson was later ordered to visit Liverpool by then Tory leader Michael Howard to apologise in person.
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'He immediately declared: "It is great to be in Manchester - one of the great British cities I am yet to insult."'
Mission accomplished Boris.
This policy of investing in London has demonstrably failed. It has only resulted in over crowding, transport infrastructure collapse, water shortages, housing shortages, greater social inequality and general inefficiency in the economy. More proof the Tories haven't changed
Boris your a buffoon
The largest city that is full of idiots,pillocks,and mummy boys ,with private oldboys school and then we have manchester.Manchester started the industrial revolution that fed and made the money for the world .london was just the place the deborched lived.(corrupt morally).
They hate and despise us and they're not afraid to show it.
The Only downfall manchester has is its leaders.Get rid of them and we have a great city.
Typical idiotic tosh, but at least he's saying it, unlike the rest who are just thinking it. The tories will never invest in Manchester.
The Tories are Southern through and through, that will never change.Harsh times ahead for the North I fear.
We need a Manchester mayor to look after this City !! You can see what the future will be like under labour or the cons !!
What a pillock. Why on Earth did they even bother coming up here for their conference? Couldn't they find some ludicrously overpriced posh hotel down south??
In the words of Obama.
He's a Jackass !!!!.
What a complete and utter nutter, how on earth did he get to be Lord Mayor? Dick Whittingtons cat would do a better job that him
London has had its day too Boris.
The economic centre has been quietly moving to Brussels and Strasburg over the past 30 years.
No vote, no referendum, no say . . . all done by stealth.
And no party will hand on heart give the people a say in this..
This is one clown among many that have arrived in Manchester this week.
Are we not funding the olympics then ?
what a shortsighted, introspective, naive and stupid thing to say. no mate, the way to improve manchester, leeds, liverpool etc is to invest in us directly. the only reason why london is such a powerhouse is because thats where all the investment goes. simple. not because londoners are better, but purely because you get an unfair amount of what is our money. what a chump.
I'm actually pleased they had the conference here: a good sum of money for our city's hotels/restaurants/cafes, and we get to see them up close in a way (the Manchester comments reveal a lot about their mindset).
As for Boris, don't be fooled by the buffoon act. There's a sharp operator underneath that facade, look at the way he got rid of the Met police commissioner. I've seen him answering questions from a London committee and he can be prickly.
I don't know which party is best for Manchester to be honest; the only way we can really judge is in the detail of their policies. Whether these can be fulfilled is another matter entirely.
them damn cockneys are it again. :(
You are missing the point. He is the Mayor of LONDON. His only interest is in London so he would be the divot that many of you call him if he was to ask for more investment in Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle at the expense of London.
His nearest equivalent in terms of position in Manchester is Richard Leese or Howard Bernstein. If either of them stood up at a Labour Conference and didn't ask for more investment in their patch i.e. Manchester but asked for it in another city you would think there were mad.
What is the probelem with the Mayor of LONDON asking for investment in LONDON?
I would contend that London has less scope for growth than the great cities of the north. In the same way that eastern european countries enjoy higher growth than their more mature western european counterparts.
Surely there is room for substantial growth in Cities that have been underinvested in for a considerable time.
Shock horror MAYOR OF LONDON ask for more investment in LONDON
Why is this buffoon fest allowed outside London village. They will cause misery and hardship to all working class on a scale not seen since Thatcher. UNDER THE TORIES NORTHERN ENGLAND WILL CLOSE FOR BUSINESS .
you can feel riots,poverty soaring and the poor being whipped by the tories before they have gained power....they will take the poors benefits away and that will lead to massive crime rates resulting in prison overload and they say it costs nearly a thousand pounds to keep a person in prison for a week,the best outcome will be no overall majority at least then policies will have to be deciced by all parties resulting in fairer outcomes and a better country,the last thing this country needs is cameron dividing an allready bitter divide of rich and poor it isnt great at the moment with labour but it has taken years to deal with the greed the tories created throughout the 1980s.
And to think I was considering voting Tory. Well that's Labour and the Tory party of my list.
Sadly this is the policy of the Tories, they just wont admit it until they win the next election and the North will be licking the many wounds they will create.