PM gets back on his bike after Christmas gift of motorcycle

BORIS JOHNSON admitted he shed a tear when his beloved pushbike was stolen, but the Prime Minister is now happily back in the saddle thanks to a Christmas gift.

Mr Johnson disclosed earlier this year that the last time he cried was when the bike he called “Bikey” – given to him by Olympic cyclist Chris Boardman – was stolen.

Mr Johnson said he had ridden his bike every day for eight years while mayor of London and “shed a tear” when he realised that it had been taken from outside Parliament.

“It was never nicked in all my time in the city, I rode it everywhere,” he said. However, Mr Johnson, who had previously conceded that if he wanted a new bicycle for Christmas he would have to buy it himself, was surprised with the gift of a motorcycle from his girlfriend, Carrie Symonds.

According to the Mail on Sunday, Ms Symonds gave him a second-hand

Yamaha TTR 125, worth about £1,000. Mr Johnson was forced to give up cycling when he became foreign secretary and can no longer cycle publicly because of security considerations.

He previously said that the secret to being a good cyclist was decent socks.

“If you’re on a bicycle, it’s important you have a good, long right sock if you want to avoid it being caught in the chain,” he said.

Mr Johnson and Ms Symonds are on holiday on the private island of Mustique in the Caribbean. Pictures released over the weekend appeared to show the couple travelling in economy on a BA flight to St Lucia. They paid for the flight themselves.