Boris Johnson distances himself from Hitler-EU comparison: 'I don't write the headlines'

'The key point I would make is that there is something worryingly antidemocratic about the EU as it currently is set up'

Boris Johnson has distanced himself from controversial comments likening Adolf Hitler’s aims to those of the European Union by passing blame on to newspaper headline writers.

The former London Mayor said in May that the EU was an attempt to recreate the Roman Empire’s united Europe. “Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this out, and it ends tragically,” he said.

“The EU is an attempt to do this by different methods,” he added.

The incendiary comments sparked an immediate backlash and Donald Tusk, the European Council President, said Mr Johnson had “crossed the boundaries” when he made a “dangerous” comparison between Brussels and Adolf Hitler.

But when asked on BBC’s Andrew Marr Show whether it was “abominable” to make the comparison between the Nazi dictator and the European Union, Mr Johnson responded: “I don’t write the headlines.”

He added: “The key point I would make is that there is something worryingly antidemocratic about the EU as it currently is set up. I do think it should concern everybody in this country that 60 per cent of our laws now come from Brussels.

“Since the Lisbon Treaty we have been out-voted more and more often. There are fundamental ways now that we cannot control our lives.”

Appearing before Mr Johnson, the former Prime Minister Sir John Major launched an assault on the “squalid” Brexit campaign being run by the former London Mayor and Justice Secretary Michael Gove.

Sir Major attacked its "deceitful" claims and accused Brexit backers of "misleading" the public. Taking aim at Mr Johnson, the former Conservative leader said the “court jester” would not have the loyalty of Conservative MPs if he becomes party leader.

Mr Johnson failed to reject a Vote Leave poster claiming that David Cameron cannot be trusted on immigration, saying it was “frustrating” that the Government had failed to meet its pledge to reduce migration to the tens of thousands.

The Prime Minister “didn't get a sausage” from his renegotiations on Britain's relationship with Brussels, he added. Mr Johnson, who has Turkish heritage, also defended the Leave campaign's claims about Turkey's future membership of the EU.

"Frankly, I don't mind whether Turkey joins the EU, provided the UK leaves the EU," he added.

Pressed on his previous support for Turkish accession, he insisted "that was back in the days when some of us thought that widening the EU would not mean this federalising, centralising, deepening process that we have seen".

"The EU has changed out of all recognition since people like me first started advocating Turkish membership," he added.