British PM Boris Johnson under fire for not shaking the hands of two black men

Boris Johnson has come under fire for not shaking the hands of two black men.
Boris Johnson has come under fire for not shaking the hands of two black men. Photo credit: Twitter

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been criticised on social media for not shaking the hands of two people of colour at the Conservative Party conference. 

In the video posted on Friday, Johnson walks down a line of people shaking their hands but bypasses two delegates, both of whom are black. 

Clips of the incident were posted to Twitter, causing some users to hit out at the PM. 

One post said Johnson showed his "blatant racism refusing to shake hands with two black men".

Another said: "Missing a handshake when doing the rounds is common. Not extending your hand to two black men as you walk past shaking everyone else's hands is a deliberate choice".

Some users jumped to Johnson's defence, saying the two men were clapping and the PM only shook the hands of people who had extended their hands out.   

"This is a shameless, pathetic attempt to portray #BorisJohnson as a racist. He shook the hand of EVERY person who offered him theirs. Period. The two black gentleman elected not to offer their hands (sic)," one user posted. 

It is not the first time Johnson has been in hot water over his perceived racism, in a 2002 column for the Telegraph he referred to African people as "flag-waving piccaninnies," with "watermelon smiles." He later said the comments were satirical. 

Newshub.