Petition launched to stop Boris Johnson wearing Grimsby football hat as he’s bringing town into ‘disrepute’

Petition asking him to wear a Manchester United hat instead racks up hundreds of signatures

An online petition has been launched to stop Boris Johnson from wearing a woolly Grimsby Town hat.

The former prime minister was seen wearing the “GTFC” football hat while leaving the Covid inquiry on Thursday.

Campaign organiser John Dale wrote that Mr Johnson was “using the town to add lustre and glamour” to his life since falling from power.

He wrote: “Disgraced ex-prime minister Boris Johnson attended the Covid inquiry wearing a woolly hat bearing the letters GTFC. It is the hat worn by fans of the highly-respected Grimsby Town Football Club.

“Johnson has no formal connection to the club. He has never lived in Grimsby. He is using the town to add lustre and glamour to his own shattered life.

The petition has reached over 800 signatures (REUTERS)

“He is also bringing Grimsby into serious disrepute. This petition asks that Johnson stops wearing the hat and adopts hat more suited to his lowly status eg MUFC.”

As of Saturday afternoon, the petition had reached over 800 signatures, with one signatory writing: “I totally agree with the community of Grimsby that Johnson is bringing shame to them by wearing the town’s hat! He is trying to look like a man of the people when he is the total opposite!”

The hat is reported to be one of two given to Mr Johnson by Great Grimsby’s Tory MP, Lia Nici, an avid supporter of the former prime minister.

When questioned at the Covid inquiry, Mr Johnson apologised for “the pain and the loss and the suffering” of the pandemic’s victims but insisted he had not pursued a “let it rip” strategy.

He also denied claims that he used the phrase “let the bodies pile high” during the pandemic and lashed out at some of the “absolutely absurd” characterisations of the Partygate scandal, which he labelled a “travesty of the truth”.