Boris Johnson bewildered interviewer Steven Bartlett by suggesting it was never his job to come up with a plan for after the EU referendum

The former prime minister was the mayor of London when he decided to head up the campaign to leave the EU in 2016.

Boris Johnson has claimed it was never the Brexiteers' responsibility to come up with a new plan for life outside of the EU.

The former prime minister was the mayor of London when he decided to head up the campaign to leave the EU in 2016.

Speaking on the Diary of a CEO podcast last Thursday, Johnson said it was “infuriating” that he and his allies were expected to have a plan for after the vote.

He said the government's stated policy was to implement the referendum result and that it was “not an election”.

“We had no plans for government, no plans for negotiations, because it was not our job,” Johnson said.

“And in so far as the next few days were chaotic - which they were - it is utterly infuriating that we should be blamed.”

Interviewer Steven Bartlett said it was clear this was a “huge issue”, putting his hands to head in bewilderment.

Johnson just replied: “But why?”

Alluding to then prime minister David Cameron's decision to step down after his Remain campaign lost in 2016, Johnson continued: “There's a fundamental misconception.

“When the government decides to put something to the people in a referendum, the government is not saying, ‘oh if it goes against any particular position’, we'll disappear.”

He claimed: “Plenty of European leaders have had a referendum on the EU and they've gone against them but they haven't vanished from the scene.”

Johnson also noted that if the Leave campaign had been campaigning to form the next government, people would have thought their arguments were based on “advancing their political careers” not the issue of the EU.

Bartlett replied: “If the people in charge say, ‘we should not leave there is no good plan’, shouldn't we have listened to them?”

The ex-PM said: “No, because I thought they were wrong.”

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