Stanley Johnson becomes French to keep link with EU

Boris Johnson's father Stanley says he has become a French national, telling a Belgium news website he wanted to keep "a link" with the EU after Brexit.

Mr Johnson, whose mother was French, told BFMTV getting citizenship was "something precious" and allowed him to "claim part of my identity".

Unlike his son, who led the campaign to leave the EU, Mr Johnson voted Remain in the 2016 Brexit referendum.

However, he later changed his mind saying "the time has come to bail".

Between 1979 and 1984, Mr Johnson was as a member of the European Parliament representing Wight and Hampshire East.

Downing Street said his decision to accept French citizenship was "a personal matter for the prime minister's father".

Mr Johnson announced he would be seeking French citizenship in December 2020 - a month before the UK fully left the EU.

Speaking on Friday, he said he was "very happy", adding: "I count myself once again as a European Union member, that's very good."

"It also counts on a symbolic and sentimental level, as my mother was born in Versailles.

"Her grandmother, all the family was there, so it's a precious thing for me to reclaim a part of my identity."

Following the Brexit referendum there was a surge in UK citizens acquiring the nationality of another EU country.

In 2017 13,141 UK citizens obtained the nationality of one of the 18 member states - that compared with 5,056 in 2016 and only 1,826 in 2015.

Because he was born in New York, Boris Johnson was able to hold US citizenship, which he did for 25 years before giving it up in 2006.