Keir, on your bike! Boris Johnson uses father Stanley’s book launch to take swipe at Starmer

Former PM jokes that Sir Keir Starmer may need a motorcycle of his own as he joins “Dada” Stanley and brothers Max, Leo and Jo to launch new Marco Polo book and celebrate the BSA bikes that helped carry his father’s 1960s expedition across continents

Boris Johnson told Sir Keir Starmer to “get on your bike” yesterday as he joined father Stanley and brothers Max, Leo and Jo at the launch of a new book about one of Britain’s great motorcycling adventures.

The former PM turned the day’s BSA motorcycle theme on Sir Keir as the Johnsons recreated the spirit of Stanley’s 1961 attempt to ride from Oxford to Beijing.

Boris joked that Sir Keir might soon need a machine of his own, adding: “If Keir’s looking for a way out, he could do worse than one of these.”

He made the remark as Stanley launched In the Footsteps of Marco Polo, his account of a journey towards China that began more than 60 years ago on two 500cc BSA Shooting Star motorcycles and was finally completed with Max in 2023.

Boris joined Stanley and brothers Max, Leo and Jo at The Old Palace pub, where the family squeezed onto the seat of a 1960s BSA motorcycle wearing old-school helmets and goggles.

The family were recreating a 1961 photograph of Stanley, Tim Severin and Michael de Larrabeiti at the Gateway of India in Mumbai during their first attempt to follow Marco Polo’s route from Venice to Beijing.

Boris, Stanley and Max also climbed into the saddle and took the bikes for a spin in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire.

Stanley and his friends set off from Oxford in 1961 and travelled through Europe and Asia, including Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan, before reaching the Afghanistan-China border.
They made it as far as the Wakhan Corridor, but were unable to cross the High Pamirs on two wheels and were forced to turn away.

More than 60 years later, Stanley completed the journey with Max, crossing China from the Himalayas to Beijing for In the Footsteps of Marco Polo and a four-part documentary series of the same name.

Boris said Britain’s great manufacturing names deserved to be remembered and celebrated, with BSA standing as a reminder of the “quality, ingenuity and ambition that helped carry British engineering around the world”.

Referring to his father as “Dada” – the family name by which Stanley is known to his children and a nod to the anarchic early 20th-century anti-art movement – he said: “Dada has always had a taste for adventure, and it is wonderful to see him celebrating a journey that began on a British motorbike more than 60 years ago.

“I’m delighted to be here with him, Max and these magnificent old machines to mark a book that is every bit as spirited as the journey behind it – and to celebrate a great name in British motorcycling heritage.

“BSA stands for the quality, ingenuity and ambition that helped carry Stanley, and British engineering, around the world.”

Boris joked that Sir Keir, whose personal ratings have plummeted over his appointment of Lord Mandelson to the job of ambassador to the US, might soon need a machine of his own.

He added: “If Keir’s looking for a way out, he could do worse than one of these.”

READ MORE: Exclusive: Boris joins father Stanley and brothers Max, Leo and Jo for BSA launch of new Marco Polo book. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson joined father Stanley and brother Max on vintage BSA motorcycles as The European’s editor-at-large launched In the Footsteps of Marco Polo, the book telling the story of a journey from Oxford to Beijing that took more than 60 years to complete. 

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_{All images: Sam Furlong/The European}