Johnson likens Maori greeting to ‘a headbutt’

Wellington: Britain’s gaffeprone Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson likened a traditional Maori greeting to a headbutt while visiting indigenous leaders in New Zealand.

Johnson opened his two-day trip yesterday with a visit to a marae or Maori meeting house in Kaikoura, the South Island town that was hit by a massive earthquake last year.

While there he was greeted with a hongi, the Maori welcome which involves two people pressing their noses together.

The ritual symbolises sharing the breath of life, but Johnson said he was concerned about how it would be received in Scotland, home of the “Glasgow kiss” or headbutt.

“Thank you for teaching me the hongi, I think it is a beautiful form of introduction, though it might be misinterpreted in a pub in Glasgow if you were to try it,” he said.

Johnson has a history of blunders, including touting the trade benefits of Scotch whisky in a Sikh temple in May, before being told alcohol was against the religion.