Boris Johnson’s father says he will seek French citizenship hours before Brexit

Johnson, a former member of the European Parliament, told French radio station RTL that he “will always be a European” in an interview broadcast Thursday.

“It’s not about becoming French. If I have understood correctly, I am French,” he told RTL in French, emphasizing his family’s bond with the country.

“My mother was born in France, her mother was completely French, just like her grandfather. So for me it’s a matter of reclaiming what I already have,” he said of the decision to become a French citizen. “That’s why I’m very happy.”

Britain officially leaves the EU’s internal market and customs union when the transition period ends on New Year’s Eve at 11 p.m. GMT (6 p.m. ET).

The post-Brexit trade deal between the EU and the UK will enter into force at that point, after the two sides have reached a last-minute deal. But most Britons will start 2021 by losing their ability to work freely and travel around the 27-country block.

Stanley Johnson insisted that Brexit will not mean the end of European identity for him or the English people. “I will always be European, that’s for sure. You can’t tell the English people, ‘You’re not European,'” Johnson told RTL.

“Europe is always more than the common market, it is more than the European Union,” he added. “But that said, yes, such a link with the European Union is important.”

The prime minister’s father has been in the news regularly since his son entered office. In July, he was criticized for traveling to Greece while the UK was in lockdown. And last December – on the night his son won a landslide election – Stanley Johnson was accused of making an Islamophobic comment on television.