Boris Johnson films selfie video as he 'loops the loop' in RAF fighter jet

Outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson said he did a "fantastic loop the loop" as he got to have a spin in an RAF Typhoon fighter jet.

In a speech at the Farnborough Air Show on Tuesday, Mr Johnson - still the UK's top gun until September - described having taken off like a "vertical firecracker" for a joyride in the jet.

Despite the G-force, the caretaker PM - well known for being a political maverick - filmed a selfie video of himself in the cockpit.

Boris Johnson films a selfie video from RAF Typhoon aircraft (c) Boris Johnson

Speaking to a crowd at one of the world’s biggest aerospace and defence trade shows, he said: "After a while the wing commander said to me, 'Do you want to have a go?'

"And I said, 'Are you sure, it seems very expensive to me?' We only have 148 of them and they cost £75 million a pop.

"And he said, 'Don't worry you can't break it.' And I thought, 'oh well famous last words'.

"So I pushed the joystick right over to the right and we did an aileron roll and I pulled the joystick right back and we did a fantastic loop the loop and then I did a more complicated thing called a barrel roll and I pushed the stick up and right a bit.

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"Then we started to pull a few Gs, as they say, quite a few Gs. When I came back to consciousness I could see the sea getting closer and closer and I started to dream about this incredible forest of windfarms I could see, all over the North Sea and I thought about the way this government in the past few years have been reclaiming Doggerland, harvesting the drained prairies of the North Sea. "This reverie must have gone on for quite a while because then my colleague said, 'I'm taking back control now', and we headed happily home."

Mr Johnson met aviation leaders and apprentices, chatted to British astronaut Tim Peake and stepped inside an electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft at the event in Hampshire, which will be one of his last as prime minister after stepping down as Tory leader on July 7.

The prime minister is set to leave office in September following the election of a new Tory leader.

The House of Commons’ summer recess begins on Friday.

Farnborough Air Show is one of the world’s biggest aerospace and defence trade shows.

The five-day event is expected to be attended by around 1,500 exhibitors and 80,000 visitors from 96 countries.

The show usually takes place every two years, but the coronavirus pandemic means this is the first time it has been held since 2018.

Deals worth a total of £161 billion (192 billion US dollars) were agreed at the last show, according to organisers.