Boris Johnson reveals details of private conversations with Queen

Boris Johnson has broken with convention and talked about his private audiences with the Queen, saying "she always asks the best questions."

The Prime Minister's revelation is made in an election campaign video filmed on his way to meet the head of state on the day Parliament was dissolved signalling the start of the General Election.

In the footage posted under his Boris Johnson Twitter account, the Tory leader is filmed speaking from the back seat of his car as he heads to Buckingham Palace.

Mr Johnson, who does not appear to be wearing a seatbelt, says: "I'm just off to see Her Majesty the Queen, which is always a very tough interview because she always asks the best questions and the question today is: why are we having this election?"

What passes between the Queen and her prime minister during their private meetings is supposed to remain private, but when the inevitable leak does happen it is usually well after the event.

Mr Johnson reportedly broke the secrecy associated with private audiences with the Queen following their very first meeting as head of state and prime minister.

After the palace meeting in July, when he accepted the Queen's invitation to form the next government and become prime minister, the out-spoken politician commented about their conversation when he returned to Downing Street.

A tweet by Vincent McAviney, a UK correspondent for Euronews NBC, made the claim: "'I don't know why anyone would want the job' – what Johnson says HM the Queen told him during his audience! The PM revealed it during a tour in Number 10 before being told off by staff not to repeat those things so loudly."

Contemporaneous leaks are rare and are likely to be frowned upon by royal aides as the head of state needs to speak freely to the prime minister of the day, without fear of comments being reported elsewhere.

Ex-prime minister David Cameron had to apologise to the Queen after he revealed to former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg she had "purred down the line" when he informed the monarch Scotland had voted against independence.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment on Mr Johnson's breach of protocol.

As the Queen is above party politics, no-one is supposed to talk about the relationship between the sovereign and the prime minister of the day.

The Queen has seen 13 premiers come and go during her reign, with Mr Johnson her 14th prime minister.

Winston Churchill, the Queen's first prime minister, is thought to be her favourite, who greeted the young, grieving monarch back on British soil after her sudden return from Kenya on the death of her father, King George VI.

Like a kindly uncle, Churchill had nurtured her through the early years, giving her the sort of advice which no-one else could have done.