Boris Johnson just tried to sing Ode to Joy in German to argue his case for Brexit
In any other politician's hands, delivering a speech to lay out the "liberal cosmopolitan" case for leaving the EU would have been a fairly run-of-the-mill press conference.
But this is Boris Johnson we're talking about.
Much to the bemusement of the Twitter masses, the former mayor's free time has clearly been taken up with learning German, as his attempt at making a persuasive speech to leave the EU descended into singing a bar of "Ode to Joy" in German shows.
https://twitter.com/RobDotHutton/status/729626996788101120
Boris Johnson has just attempted to illustrate his love of Europe by singing a bar of Ode to Joy in German
— Michael Deacon (@MichaelPDeacon) May 9, 2016
So Boris Johnson can sing Ode to Joy in German.
I can sing Kenneth Williams' "Ma Crepe Suzette." Now, which is more impressive I ask you?
— Rachel Caroline ☄️ (@MsRCHyde) May 9, 2016
#Boris can sing 3 words of #Schiller's poem but does he understand it? Friedrich & Ludwig must be spinning in graves. #AndieFreude #OdetoJoy
— Liz Clements (@LizClements) May 9, 2016
Watch a vine of Boris's performance below:
"A country called Europe"
Despite overshadowing the rest of his argument with his dulcet tones, the Uxbridge MP gave a relatively serious speech.
He drew attention to the"continuing and accelerating effort to build a country called Europe" that had "seriously compromised" Britain's independence that was forcing him to campaign to leave the EU.
Read more: EU referendum: David Cameron and Boris Johnson are no longer BFFs because of Brexit
"I believe we would be mad not to take this once-in-a-lifetime chance to walk through that door because the truth is it is not we who have changed.
"It is the EU that has changed out of all recognition; and to keep insisting that the EU is about economics is like saying the Italian Mafia is interested in olive oil and real estate."
He also laid out five questions he believes the vote leave camp needs to relentlessly ask the remain campaign in the run-up to 23 June.
- How can you possibly control EU immigration into this country?
- The living wage is an excellent policy, but how will you stop it being a big pull factor for uncontrolled EU migration, given that it is far higher than minimum wages in other EU countries?
- How will you prevent the European Court from interfering further in immigration, asylum, human rights, and all kinds of matters which have nothing to do with the so-called Single Market?
- Why did you give up the UK veto on further moves towards a fiscal and political union?
- How can you stop us from being dragged in, and from being made to pay?