Boris Johnson has said he tried to use a magazine about politics as voter ID when he turned up to the polls this week.
Mr Johnson had been trying to cast his vote in the local elections in South Oxfordshire on Thursday but fell foul of legislation he introduced himself as prime minister.
Staff initially turned the former Conservative Party leader away because he could not produce a proper voter ID.
Writing for the Daily Mail after the incident, Mr Johnson claims he attempted to use a copy of Prospect magazine as a form of identification.
“I want to pay a particular tribute to the three villagers who on Thursday rightly turned me away when I appeared in the polling station with nothing to prove my identity except the sleeve of my copy of Prospect magazine, on which my name and address had been printed,” he said. “I showed it to them and they looked very dubious … within minutes I was back with my driving licence and voted Tory.”
Voters have been required to bring photographic identification for certain elections in the UK since May 2023.
Prospect editor Alan Rusbridger tweeted that he was “delighted” by Mr Johnson’s support for the magazine but reminded readers of its limitations as proof of identity.
“Warning to potential subscribers: the magazine is miraculous in many ways, but may not be used as photo ID,” the former Guardian editor posted on Twitter/X.
When introducing the legislation In 2021, then prime minister Mr Johnson said: “What we want to do is protect democracy, the transparency and the integrity of the electoral process. And I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask first-time voters to produce some evidence of identity.”
Under Mr Johnson’s legislation, ministers argued the change was required to reduce electoral fraud.
Critics of the voter ID rules have pointed out that cases of electoral fraud are rare in the UK. The latest data from the Electoral Commission shows that, between 2018 and 2022, only 11 of the 1,386 alleged cases of electoral fraud resulted in convictions.
There are also concerns that voter ID laws can disproportionately affect marginalised communities’ ability to vote.
