Southwark Council leader Peter John has said Tory frontrunner for Number 10 Boris Johnson is unfit for office.

The next occupant of Number 10 will be either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt, with the successor of Theresa May due to take office on Wednesday.

Asked whether Mr Johnson, who is a resident of Camberwell, was unfit to be prime minister because of his “disastrous tenure as foreign secretary,” Labour Cllr Peter John said: “Absolutely. It really is alarming.”

Speaking at a council meeting he said: “If you had sat here two or three years ago and really thought Boris Johnson could be prime minister we would be utterly, utterly amazed.

“What is so galling about watching the Tory leadership contest at the moment is that Boris doesn’t mention being the foreign secretary, one of the highest offices of state, a position he held for 18 months or two years. It is just not mentioned. It is one of those spots on the CV,” he added.

Mr Johnson faced numerous calls for his resignation during his tenure as foreign secretary.

His mistakes include erroneously claiming  Iranian detainee, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, was training journalists in the region in 2017.

After Mr Johnson’s comments the 38-year-old Briton was told her sentence could double.

He also breached Common’s rules about declaring financial interests, including £52,000 of earnings outside of his work as an MP, earlier this year.

But Cllr Peter John said, after months of living in Camberwell, Mr Johnson may have “realised that the public transport links are hopeless…[and] he might renew the commitment he made to me in person in 2013 that the Bakerloo line extension would travel to Camberwell and Peckham.”

As prime minister, Mr Johnson could fund the current Bakerloo line extension proposal down Old Kent Road, he added.

“But at the end of the day any continued Tory government is bad news for the people of this borough, and bad news for the people of this country.

“The sooner we get the chance to elect a Labour government that is committed to remain [in the EU],committed to the infrastructure projects this borough needs, committed to the changes our residents need; investing in education, housing…the better we all will be and the happier and more united our country will be,” he said.

The UK’s next prime minister set to be announced today.