Boris Johnson voter ID fail: former Prime Minister turned away from polling station for using magazine as ID

Boris Johnson tried to use a magazine as a form of identification to vote in the local elections, but was turned away for breaking voter ID rules than he brought in as Prime Minister.

Johnson has now thanked the three villagers who stopped him from voting on Thursday in his Daily Mail column. He revealed he attempted to use a copy of Prospect magazine as a form of identification, but was turned away by local electorate officials.

The requirement to provide photo ID was introduced by Johnson during his time in Downing Street as part of the Elections Act 2022. Critics have said the rules risk disenfranchising millions of people, and the government’s own equality assessment found it disproportionately impacted disabled and LGBT+ people - however Johnson pressed ahead anyway.

Thursday’s election was the first time many voters in England and Wales had to present ID to vote under provisions first rolled out at last year’s local elections. Acceptable forms of ID include a passport, driving licence, Proof of Age Standards Scheme (Pass) cards, Blue Badges, and some concessionary travel cards.

Speaking about his own experience of falling foul of his own rules, Johnson wrote: “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.

“I showed it to them and they looked very dubious… within minutes I was back with my driving licence and voted Tory.”

Tory MP Tom Hunt had to get an emergency proxy vote, as he had lost his only acceptable forms of ID. While former British Army members have complained that Veterans ID cards are not included.

New polling has found that millions of people could be prevented from voting due to lack of public awareness of new voter ID regulations. A huge Best for Britain MRP poll of more than 15,000 people, undertaken by Survation, found that 16% of respondents don’t know about new voter ID rules. This equates to around five million voters.

The data shows that in particular young people are unaware of the voter ID rules, with more than one in four 18 to 24-year-olds in the dark about the need to bring photo ID with them to the polling station. This compares with just 6% of over 65s.

A high level of confusion was also recorded among minority ethnic groups including one in four (26%) Asian/Asian British respondents, 23% of those who are Black/African/Caribbean/Black British and 22% of those who identified as mixed/multiple ethnic groups. 

The Electoral Commission has said “most voters” were able to cast their ballots despite the ID requirements. “Our initial assessment of the elections is that they were well-run, and millions of voters were able to exercise their democratic rights,” a spokesman said.

“This is a testament to the efforts of electoral administrators, who work tirelessly to ensure the smooth delivery and integrity of polls. A number of new measures from the Elections Act were in force at these elections, including voter ID for the first time in Wales and parts of England. The electoral community has been working hard to prepare voters for these changes. Most voters who wanted to vote were able to do so.

“We will now begin to collect evidence from voters, electoral administrators, partner organisations, and campaigners to understand their experiences of the elections and identify any potential obstacles to participation.”

Ralph Blackburn is NationalWorld’s politics editor based in Westminster, where he gets special access to Parliament, MPs and government briefings. If you liked this article you can follow Ralph on X (Twitter) here and sign up to his free weekly newsletter Politics Uncovered, which brings you the latest analysis and gossip from Westminster every Sunday morning.