Boris Johnson uses digger to emphasise Brexit message

Boris Johnson knocked down a wall in an attempt to convince voters he can break the “gridlock” in Parliament.

The Prime Minister's stunt involved him driving a JCB digger which had a “Get Brexit done” sign in the bucket at the firm's manufacturing centre in Staffordshire.

Mr Johnson posed for photos outside the cab before giving a thumbs-up and repeating: “Get Brexit done.”

In a speech after the stunt, Mr Johnson said: "On Thursday I think it’s time for the whole country symbolically to get into the cab of a JCB custard colossus and remove the current blockage we have in our Parliament.”

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He added: “I hope very much we will collectively be able to remove the wall – you saw the Styrofoam wall that we tore down earlier.

“As one Conservative said to another communist, Mr Corbyn it’s time to tear down that wall and remove your opposition to getting Brexit done.”

This line alluded to a 1987 speech by then-US president Ronald Reagan as he appealed to the Soviet Union’s Mikhail Gorbachev to open the Berlin Wall.

Mr Johnson added "the country will get its mojo back" under a Conservative government.

"Once we get Brexit done, we can get on with our work of serving you the British people, of serving you first," he said.

JCB chairman Lord Bamford is a Conservative peer and has been a long-standing donor to the party, with the JCB site hosting previous visits by senior Tories – including David Cameron.

Mr Johnson later took questions from staff, with one asking about the future of HS2 – which would serve the West Midlands and beyond.

The Prime Minister said he is “temperamentally very much inclined” to go ahead with the rail project if a review recommends it.

In August, Boris Johnson asked Douglas Oakervee to chair an independent review of HS2.

Asked if he would go ahead with the rail scheme, Mr Johnson said: “HS2 I think is a scheme that is running now at £88 billion in estimated costs, projected costs, I think it could go higher, to be perfectly honest.”

He added: “If there is a chance to make HS2 work better, or if he (Mr Oakervee) says it’s a bad idea, then obviously we will have to look very seriously at that. But I want to give you my instincts.

“I think I’m probably the candidate at this election who has done the most to build massive infrastructure projects, I know a bit about it.

“I’m a massive enthusiast for it. On the whole, this country is woefully under-provided for fantastic infrastructure.

“So whatever Doug says, whatever his team says, I’m going to be temperamentally very much inclined to want to go ahead with a great national project if I can.

“But I’m also going to want to be able to save whatever money I can, those are going to be the instincts I will use when approaching it.”

Meanwhile Extinction Rebellion protesters targeted a Conservative campaign bus, warning the party’s green targets amount to a “death sentence” for everyone.

Protesters, some dressed as bees, walked towards the bus in the road as it left the JCB Manufacturing Centre in Staffordshire.

The bus was forced to slow to a stop and three of the protesters stuck their hands to the bus.

Mr Johnson was not on board and police attended the scene.

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Mr Johnson later said he would remain in the country if Jeremy Corbyn becomes prime minister.

Phones 4U founder John Caudwell has said he may leave Britain if Labour wins the election, but the prime minister took a different stance.

Asked about Mr Caudwell’s remarks, Mr Johnson said: “Obviously I’m going to stay in the country but I do not wish to contemplate this terrible eventuality – it’s a hypothesis that I really want to push to one side.”