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Cor blimey Guv'nor ... Mayor of London Boris Johnson has been propping up the bar of the Queen Vic as Peggy Mitchell and drinkers bend his ear.
But he could be forgiven for ignoring their concerns because of his waxy ears - after all, he was a Madame Tussauds model.
The museum took waxwork figures of the blonde bombshells to a real east end pub to mark Johnson's appearance in an edition of EastEnders, to be screened on BBC1 tonight.
Tussauds staff took the figures to the Queen Victoria pub in Bermondsey to meet some real life east enders.
Drinkers enjoyed a pint or two with the Mayor and aired their views on his leadership, while a likeness of Barbara Windsor - who plays the recently politicised Peggy - looked on.
Local resident Amanda Smith said: "I did a double take at first. If I met the real Boris I'd have a thing or two to say, such as why did he scrap the bendy buses?"
Queen Vic regular Steve Salmon said: "It's not every day the capital's mayor pops into your local and buys you a pint, he can come again and get a few more rounds in, although I have to say his pool and darts skills weren't all that."
A spokesman for the pub said: "We'd welcome the real Boris Johnson here any time he likes and we will have his favourite tipple, a pint of bitter, on the bar ready and waiting."
Johnson's wax figure was launched at Madame Tussauds London on May 5 2009 to mark his first anniversary in office.
Reader views (3)
I think that Boris Johnson is behaving true to form in landing himself the fantasy roles! He and the BBC make an apt match! Not just he and Ms Windsor. He and the BBC need the elixir of publicity. Like Mr Johnson, the BBC is easily distracted and absorbed in fantasy at the expense of the truth and of facts. Just make sure that he never seeks to claim any real life
action affecting the needs of the real people in the real East End of London. Even while in office, at least supposedly, Boris is prone to fantasise for a life unreal! Perhaps he should offer to quit the dull drudgery of the real position and escape the real responsibilities, force an election and let real people of London of all parts come forward with the real audit of the conduct of this holder of that exorbitantly costly and wasteful post at the expense of real London
- Muhammad Haque, London United Kingdom
Ha! It'll be:
Peggy Mitchell- "Evening Mr Mayor. What are you having?"
Boris (through garbbled Etonian tounge): "Have you got any of Ken's old ideas? I can rubbish them in order to get elected, then realise he was right all along." Script note: this reference foreign embassies, cycle strategies and many, many more
- Donal Flight, Carshalton
Since when is Bermondsey in the east end?
I'm looking foward to Eastenders tonight:
Peggy Mitchell- "Evening Mr Mayor. What are you having? You must have plenty of money what with the half a million pounds a year you earn, plus the £100,000 you claimed from us taxpayers to pay the mortgage on your Islington mansion!"
Boris- "Errr, hang on, that's not in the script!"
- Steve Cascarino, Bow
