Boris Johnson’s aide was the Mirror Chicken – who hounded Tories for avoiding debates

TAMWORTH, UNITED KINGDOM - APRIL 20: British opposition Conservative party leader, David Cameron (2nd R), reacts as a man dressed as a chicken on behalf of a British newspaper, attempts to confront him, while campaigning in Tamworth, central England on April 20, 2010. The General Election, to be held on May 6, 2010 is set to be one of the most closely fought political contests in recent times with all main party leaders embarking on a four week campaign to win the votes of the United Kingdom electorate. (Photo by Adrian Dennis - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

In a beautiful twist of irony, Boris Johnson’s spin doctor in No 10 is the same guy who dressed up as a chicken during the 2010 general election campaign and chased David Cameron around.

The idea was that the then wannabe prime minister was too “chicken” to take the Mirror‘s questions, and in 2015 to take part in the leadership debates…

…remind you of anyone?

Johnson, who ducked out of a number of head-to-head televised debates when he was running for the Tory leadership, will now be working every day with the very same chicken who clucked at such behaviour.

The Mirror has splashed on the story about Lee Cain, the chicken-spinner in question, describing how enthusiastically he took up the task nine years ago to chase Tories around and taunt them for dodging questions. The idea of the Mirror Chicken was apparently “hatched” in 1997, when the then PM John Major kept avoiding debates.