Boris Johnson tried to speak Italian in Parliament and it didn’t go quite how he planned

NESSUN Dorma it certainly wasn’t when Boris Johnson broke into Italian at the despatch box in the House of Commons today.

Instead of singing the famous aria, which was also the song for Italia 90, he was attempting to answer a question about whether Italians would be welcome in Britain after Brexit.

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Starting off well – with “Vabbè”, which means “Oh well”, he then did his best to say all Italians will be welcome in London by stating the not quite correct Italian: “Tutti li itali sono benvenuti alla Londra.”

Maybe he did not know the word for Great Britain or maybe it is a phrase he learned when he was the Mayor of London.

After apologising to the House of Commons for his lack of fluency he reverted back to English.

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He said EU nationals in the UK will retain the right to stay after Brexit, telling the House of Commons: “All nationals from EU member states can have the assurance that their status here will of course be protected.”

But he said their status would only be assured if there are similar deals struck for British people living in other EU countries.

This is not the first time BoJo has flirted with another European language and come unstuck.

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In July he was booed at the French ambassador’s residence despite belting out La Marseillaise at an event to celebrate Bastille Day.

The new Foreign Secretary was heckled by a small number section of the French and British crowd as the former mayor of London attended his first public engagement in post.

He joined in singing the national anthem with gusto, but when he asked the audience to join him in hoping for a long lasting “a political, cultural psychological and economic union between our countries”, a few chuckled in disbelief at the man largely credited with persuading Brits to vote Brexit.

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As he rounded off his speech switching to French to say “ever closer union”, audible booing was heard in the crowd among a smattering of applause.

And back in May while on the referendum campaign trail the prominent Brexiteer started singing the EU anthem in German in the middle of a speech trying to get Britain to leave the European Union.

He described himself as a child of Europe and a liberal cosmopolitan before declaring he could sing Beethoven’s tune Ode to Joy in German – and then he did.