'He has bought shame and disrespect to our country'

Mark Thomas has been awarded an honorary degree by Kent University – and used his acceptance speech to launch a savage, impassioned attack on Boris Johnson.

Receiving his doctor of arts recognition at Canterbury Cathedral on Thursday, the comedian said: ‘I've been asked to give a few  words of advice, I guess. I genuinely don't know that much.

‘DMs [Doc Martens] are overpriced. Hobnobs are overvalued. Boris Johnson is a venal lying corrupt narcissistic inept, totally money grabbing, evil man who should never have been allowed near the power - never.

‘That man should be publicly horse-whipped once a week, every week, touring round cities and towns in the UK.

‘He has bought shame and disrespect to our country and he has increased racism, violence and division. He has insisted on corruption in our country, and we will not have it.’

Students cheered as Thomas’s voice rose in anger at the conduct of the ousted Prime Minister.

Then, calming down, the comic added: ‘I was going to do a non-controversial set.

'But the thing about Johnson that struck me more than anything, is the fact that he values his self and his small cabal – the rich elites – and their enrichment, his own narcissism above everything else, and I think one thing that Covid has taught us is that we are dependent upon each other.’

Thomas has had a long affiliation with the University of Kent, which runs a module in stand-up comedy He delivered the inaugural Linda Smith Lecture there in 2015, and his collection forms part of the university’s British stand-up comedy archive, curated by former comic Oliver Double.

The collection includes material related to Thomas’s early stand-up career on the comedy circuit in the 1980s and 1990s - mainly promotional material and press coverage - through to his later solo shows and his activism.

Published: 16 Jul 2022