Boris Johnson says next James Bond 'has got to be a man'

Boris Johnson says next James Bond ‘has got to be a man’ after Keir Starmer said it is ‘time’ for a female 007

  • Boris Johnson wants Daniel Craig’s successor as 007 to be a man
  • Michael Gove agreed and recommended Line of Duty’s Stephen Graham
  • Keir Starmer had said it was time for a women to take over the coveted role 

Boris Johnson says the next James Bond has ‘got to be a man’ just days after Sir Keir Starmer suggested the iconic role should be passed on to a woman after Daniel Craig

The Prime Minister did not offer his opinion on who should take over the coveted role.

But he told The Times: ‘I think it will be up to whoever is the next James Bond is to identify him or herself.

Boris Johnson says the next James Bond has ‘got to be a man’ just days after Sir Keir Starmer suggested the iconic role should be passed on to a woman

‘I think it’s got to be a man, frankly. That’s my view.’

Cabinet minister Michael Gove agreed with his party leader as they distanced themselves from Starmer’s remarks.

Gove recommended Line of Duty star Stephen Graham, telling The Sun: ‘James Bond’s a man. We don’t need a female Bond – it’s time for a Scouse Bond, though.’ 

Earlier this week, Starmer told Good Morning Britain that Daniel Craig should be replaced by a woman.

He said: ‘I don’t have a favourite Bond, but I do think it’s time for a female Bond.’

The Prime Minister did not offer his opinion on who should take over the coveted role

Thus far in the film series woman have, with some notable exceptions. been reduced to supporting roles as love conquests or femme fatales – and sometimes both.

The new film, which had its world premier on Wednesday, does break the mould with the appearance of Lashana Lynch as a fellow 00 agent, Nomi. 

It is the first time that a member of the elite unit of agents has been portrayed as a woman.

However the chances of a woman stepping into the lead role seem limited.

Cabinet minister Michael Gove agreed with his party leader and recommended Stephen Graham for the role

Last week Bond producer Barbara Broccoli has said she believes 007 will always be a male character.

The head of Eon Productions, who signs off on every key hiring and firing in the franchise, said she will be discussing who will take over the role from Daniel Craig next year – and that it will be a man.

‘James Bond is a male character. I hope that there will be many, many films made with women, for women, by women, about women,’ she said.

Craig, 53, told Radio Times last week that he also believes Bond should remain male.

The actor said: ‘There should simply be better parts for women and actors of colour.

‘Why should a woman play James Bond when there should be a part just as good as James Bond, but for a woman?’

He said the addition of Fleabag creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge to the writing team was to ‘spice it up’ but she was a Bond fan so ‘she wasn’t about to take him in a different direction’.

Multiple actresses have supported his statement that Bond should be played by a male actor, including Die Another Day star Halle Berry, who said on Entertainment Tonight in 2017: ‘That series is steeped in history… you know, Ian Fleming’s stories. I don’t think you can change Bond to a woman.’

The franchise has taken a significant step forward in with the casting of Captain Marvel actress Lynch as a new 00 agent, who she says is ‘standing up for black women’.

Lashana Lynch, Daniel Craig, Lea Seydoux and director Cary Fukunaga pose during the world premiere of the new James Bond film No Time To Die at the Royal Albert Hall

Sir Keir has just completed his first Labour Party Conference, where he consciously attempted to distance it from the disastrous tenure of his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn.

The Labour leader described the 2019 general election as the ‘worst defeat’ the party had suffered since 1935.

In a swipe at Jeremy Corbyn, he said Labour had been on the brink of ‘obliteration’ and it needed to win back voters.

Sir Keir Starmer told the conference: ‘To those Labour voters who said their grandparents would turn in their graves, that they couldn’t trust us with high office, to those who reluctantly chose the Tories because they didn’t believe our promises were credible.

‘To the voters who thought we were unpatriotic or irresponsible, I say these simple but powerful words: We will never under my leadership go into an election with a manifesto that is not a serious plan for government.’

He was repeatedly heckled by ‘petulant, small and awful’ Corbynites today as he warned Labour they must ‘get serious’ by ditching hard-Left policies to win power – and spoke movingly about the experience of caring for his late mother.

In his first in-person conference speech following the pandemic, Sir Keir faced chants of ‘Oh, Jeremy Corbyn’ and shouts about his Brexit policy being to blame for the crushing election defeat in 2019.

In one grim piece of trolling, there were jibes screamed out as Sir Keir was talking about his late mother Jo, an NHS nurse who suffered from a crippling rare form of arthritis. 

Sir Keir merely shook his head and carried on as he told how the Covid crisis had brought back memories of her illness.   

He shrugged off other brickbats, saying he got the same treatment from Tories at PMQs every week. ‘It doesn’t bother me then, it won’t bother me now.’

As he was hit with more catcalls of ‘shame’, he shot back: ‘Chanting slogans or changing lives!’  

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