Boris Johnson: Chinese ordered me to smarten up at Olympic ceremony

Chinese officials ordered Boris Johnson to smarten up at the Olympic handover ceremony, he revealed yesterday.

The Mayor has faced criticism from Chinese commentators for leaving his jacket button undone at the event, an oversight which they say is disrespectful at a formal occasion.

He hits back in an article yesterday and says that officials had pointed at him to follow other VIPs and do up his jacket.

But after checking there was no protocol, Mr Johnson decided against it.

Writing in The Spectator, he described how he was preparing to receive the Olympic flag when he 'became aware of a chap beaming and pointing at his midriff'.

He added: 'Then another chap was pointing at me, jabbing his finger in the direction of my stomach.

'Was I too fat? Was I insufficiently Olympian?

'"Button", said the chap. "Do up button". I looked and saw that my fellow performers all had their jackets done up, and so did my charming Beijing counterpart, Mayor Guo.

'I reached instinctively for my middle button and then thought, sod it.

'I checked with the chap from the International Olympic Committee, and no, there is no Olympic jacket-button protocol. Open or shut: it's up to you.

'I was going to follow a policy of openness, transparency and individual freedom.'

He added: 'No disrespect, it's just there are times when you have to take a stand.'