Boris: I Don't Know What Queen Thinks About EU

Boris Johnson has said the Queen should not have been dragged into the debate over Britain's membership of the European Union.

Buckingham Palace has lodged a formal complaint with the press watchdog over a report in The Sun that claimed Her Majesty supported Brexit.

When asked by Sky News about the Queen's apparent backing for his stance, Mr Johnson said: "I think the most important thing is that she is completely above politics, isn't she? She should have nothing to do with it.

"She shouldn't be dragged in and I certainly don't know what her views are."

He was speaking after delivering a speech at a Vote Leave campaign event in Dartford, Kent, the London Mayor's first public address of the EU referendum campaign ahead of the 23 June vote.

In his speech Mr Johnson called on voters to ignore the "pessimists and merchants of gloom" and back a UK exit from the EU.

He claimed the EU was an "anachronism" that "wastes our money massively" and "subverts democracy in this country".

Mr Johnson said: "I think the prospects are win-win for all of us.

"I think it is time to ignore the pessimists and the merchants of gloom and to do a new deal that would be good for Britain and good for Europe too.

"It is time to burst loose and of all those regulations and get out into a world that is changing and growing and becoming more exciting the whole time.

"If we hold our nerve and we are not timid and we are not cowed by the gloomadon-poppers on the Remain campaign and we vote for freedom and for the restoration of democracy, then I believe that this country will continue to grow and prosper and thrive as never before."

He claimed that if the British public were asked to join such a union now they would steer well clear.

"Why would we join such a woefully unreformed Europe? Would anybody in their right mind join the EU as it is today? I don't think so, Mr Johnson claimed.

don't think people in this country would want to do it."

Reacting to the speech, Labour MP and "In" campaigner Chuka Umunna told Sky News: "This wasn't a positive speech at all, it was a rant containing a set of views which were flawed in my view and anachronistic.

"He spent most of his speech talking down what Britain has managed to achieve in Europe over the last few decades."

Mr Umunna also said he found it "extraordinary" that Mr Johnson "ignored" the role the EU has played in areas such as peace, respected for human rights and democracy.

Prime Minister David Cameron also hit the campaign trail on Friday, warning British agriculture would be hit if the UK votes to leave the EU.

Mr Cameron accused Brexit campaigners of promoting a vision of life outside the EU that was "too good to be true", and warned a withdrawal would endanger trade and jobs.