UXBRIDGE & South Ruislip MP Boris Johnson told the BBC this morning that a new runway at Heathrow was not going to happen, despite the Airports Commission's recommendation.

Mr Johnson is a long-term opponent of Heathrow expansion and campaigned on the issue before general election.

Mr Johnson, interviewed on Radio 4's Today programme in his other capacity as London Mayor, was asked about his pledge to lie in front of bulldozers if Heathrow expansion was approved.

He replied: "As it happens, I don't think my services as a bulldozer blocker will be required, for decades, if ever."

He argued that a third runway would be a precursor for a fourth runway, despite the Davies Report’s insistence to the contrary.

"This is the sort of thing you could have got away with in China in the 1950s," said Mr Johnson. He told the BBC the impact in terms of the environment and noise would be so huge it could not be delivered.

Mr Johnson repeated his view that a new airport in the Thames estuary, the so-called Boris Island, was the best solution.

He said discomfort being endured by Londoners on the hottest day of the year would be nothing compared to the noise pollution visited on hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of innocent people.