Boris Johnson dismissed Theresa May as a "silly cow" after he blamed her for humiliating him over his controversial purchase of three water cannons while he was Mayor of London, a new book claims. Mr Johnson had agreed to buy the second-hand equipment with the consent of Mrs May, who was Home Secretary at the time, but she later told the Commons she had refused to license their use. Mr Johnson, who saw the snub as a deliberate attempt to scupper his leadership ambitions, turned to a colleague in City Hall and called her a "silly cow", according to the biography Boris Johnson: The Gambler, by Tom Bower, which is published today. Mrs May later referred to the incident in her successful 2016 leadership bid, when she said of Mr Johnson's negotiating skills that the last time he did a deal with the Germans "he came back with three nearly-new water cannon". Read more: The Gambler, by Tom Bower, review: a catty, colourful portrait of Boris the unbreakable Mr Johnson also texted friends to say Mrs May was "awful" as she made a last-ditch attempt to persuade Tory MPs not to oust her as prime minister, the book reveals. Mr Johnson delivered a damning critique of the then Tory leader as she was addressing MPs on the 1922 Committee of backbenchers in 2018 pleading for her job. After 48 Tory MPs demanded a confidence vote in her leadership, she told her party she would not stand in the 2022 general election if they supported her Brexit Withdrawal Agreement. Mrs May survived the attempted coup but was forced out months later, with Mr Johnson winning the leadership election to take her place. Mr Bower also reports that when Mrs May tried to persuade party grandees to let her stay on, she invited Mr Johnson to Chequers along with Iain Duncan Smith, Dominic Raab, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Steve Baker and David Davis in March 2019.
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