Boris Johnson allegedly made "problematic remarks" including that he "wished he was black", a journalist claims.

Afua Hirsch - who is of British-Ghanaian heritage - suggested that the former Prime Minister made the comments at a party which he attended with his then wife, Marina Wheeler in 2008.

The allegations were made by Hirsch in a write-up of an interview with Wheeler, who suggested she has "blocked" the comments from her memory.

Wheeler married Johnson in 1993 before splitting in 2018 and divorcing in 2020.

"I met Wheeler once before, in 2008, at a friend’s party the night Barack Obama was elected US president, which we both agree feels like a lifetime ago," Hirsch wrote in British Vogue.

"She was still married to Johnson, who was there with her, and who – true to form – made some problematic remarks about my own racial heritage. After demanding to know ‘where I was from’, he commented that he ‘wished he was black’.

"Marina says she remembers me, but not what her then husband said, and groans when I tell her the story. ‘Good thing I blocked all of those things out,’ she says."

Hirsch was born in Norway to a British father and Ghanaian mother.

Previously, The Guardian and Sky News journalist accused Johnson of making a "litany of racist statements" and claimed his "oafish stupidity" was part of his "electoral brand".

A spokesperson for Johnson declined to comment.