Boris 'assault plot' tape to be broadcast

A tape-recording believed to be of Boris Johnson discussing a plan to have a tabloid journalist beaten up is to be broadcast tonight.

The recording of a conversation between the Mayor and Old Etonian friend Darius Guppy was made in 1990 but has never been broadcast.

But in what will be a highly embarrassing episode for the Mayor, now chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority, Channel 4's Dispatches will air the 21-minute conversation at 8pm.

In it the pair discuss having Stuart Collier, a former News of the World journalist, attacked because he had been asking questions about Guppy. The plan was to get Collier's phone number and trace his address before having him assaulted.

Mr Johnson says: "I think actually what he's done would justify him being very badly hurt." At one point Guppy says: "This guy has got my blood up all right, and there is nothing which I won't do to get my revenge."

When Mr Johnson expresses concern about how severe the beating will be, Guppy tells his friend: "I guarantee you he will not be seriously hurt. He will not have a broken limb or broken arm, he will not be put into intensive care ... He will probably get a couple of black eyes and a cracked rib."

Mr Johnson, then a Daily Telegraph journalist, says that Collier would "go ape s**t" if he found out he was involved and tells Guppy to seriously consider whether the "revenge" was "worth his while".

Guppy, sentenced to five years in 1993 for his part in a gems fraud, at one point asks if Mr Johnson has covered his tracks.

A spokesman for the Mayor told Dispatches: "This was a colourful story from almost two decades ago. It was of little or no consequence back then - and has no relevance whatsoever now."