Kipper rules Boris Johnson blamed on EU are actually British, says Brussels

Europe's 'pointless' regulations on food are in fact UK rules, commission tells MP

Claims by Boris Johnson that regulations imposed by "Brussels bureaucrats" were damaging the trade in kippers have been debunked by the European commission, which said that the food safety obligations criticised by him were due to rules set by Britain.

Speaking during the final hustings of the Conservative party's leadership contest on Wednesday night, Johnson held aloft a plastic-wrapped kipper that had come from a fish smoker on the Isle of Man, who he said was "utterly furious".