Action is needed to instil the work ethic in young British workers who are unwilling to do jobs they see as “menial”, London mayor Boris Johnson said.
Mr Johnson backed comments from celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, who complained that British youths would not work as hard or as long as the Eastern European migrants who staff some of his restaurants.
Speaking to the Conservative Party conference in Manchester yesterday, the mayor said the government needed to tackle the problems of welfare dependency, educational under-achievement and low self-esteem which hold some young Britons back from fulfilling their “vast and latent” potential.
His comments came as Prime Minister David Cameron signalled that Mr Johnson could return to parliament as an MP before his term as London mayor ends in 2016. But aides to the mayor scotched suggestions that he would seek to do so by putting himself forward as 2015 election candidate for the safe Tory seat of Croydon South – which is being vacated by veteran MP Richard Ottaway. Mr Cameron confirmed he had held discussions with the mayor, saying: “My message to him is ‘You’re a brilliant Mayor of London, you’ve done a great job, you’ve got a lot more to give to public life, and it would be great to have you back in the House of Commons at some stage, contributing to public life’. But that’s up to him, but I’ll certainly be giving him a warm welcome.”
Asked if Mr Cameron could see his former Eton schoolmate make a comeback at the next general election in 2015, he replied: “Absolutely – but that’s a matter for him.”
Mr Johnson acknowledged that he might get into trouble by telling the Tory conference that Oliver “had a point” when he suggested that British youths were “wet behind the ears” compared to their eastern European counterparts and were unwilling to put in the long hours needed in his restaurants.
Detailing the chef’s complaints, Mr Johnson said: “My question to you is what if Jamie has a point? He is on to something, he may have phrased it in a provocative way, but he was saying something that I think resonates, right?
“If he has a point, we need to think about the possible origins of that difference in motivation that he claims to detect.” Mr Johnson said that the problem of lack of motivation to work was being tackled by Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith’s efforts to reform the welfare system and Education Secretary Michael Gove’s drive to restore “rigour and realism” in schools.