Johnson’s colonial poem gaffe in Myanmar temple

LONDON: The British ambassador to Myanmar was forced to stop Boris Johnson ( pix) mid-sentence as he recited a colonial poem in the country’s most sacred temple, it has been revealed.

The blunder came on an official visit to the country earlier this year.

Rudyard Kipling’s Mandalay is written through the eyes of a retired British serviceman in the then Burma and also references kissing a local girl.

But Myanmar is deeply affected by its colonial past, and the gaffe was described as “stunning”.

The British foreign secretary began quoting the opening lines of the poem during a January visit to the Shwedagon Pagoda, in Yangon, the country’s largest city.

In footage captured by Channel 4 and due to be aired today, Johnson referred to a golden statue in the temple as “a very big guinea pig” and soon after burst into verse.

As he recited the poem, British ambassador to Myanmar Andrew Patrick grew visibly tense.

When the foreign secretary said the poem’s third line – “the wind is in the palm trees ... the temple bells they say” – Patrick decided to interject. “You’re on mic,” he said. “Probably not a good idea.” Johnson replied: “What, The Road to Mandalay?” “No,” the ambassador said. “Not appropriate.” The footage was shot as part of a documentary by Channel 4, examining Johnson’s fitness for the office of prime minister.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office declined a request from The Independent for comment.

“It is stunning he would do this there,” Mark Farmaner, director of the Burma Campaign UK, told The Guardian.

“There is a sensitivity about British colonialism and it is something that people in Burma are still resentful about. British colonial times were seen as a humiliation and an insult.

“It shows an incredible lack of understanding,” he said. – The Independent