Prime Minister Boris Johnson refused to name the Conservative mayor for the West of England during a campaign trip to Gloucestershire.

Johnson was in the county at a campaign event this morning ahead of elections on May 6, which will see voters choose candidates for 5,000 council seats, 39 police and crime commissioners and 13 directly-elected mayors.

This includes the mayor for the West of England, a post filled by Tim Bowles since May 2017, who chairs the West of England Combined Authority which is made up of three councils in Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol and South Gloucestershire.

Despite Bowles being a Conservative incumbent and the only directly-elected metro mayor in the region the Prime Minister was campaigning in, Boris Johnson could not name him during an awkward exchange with reporters.

Question: Do you know who the West of England mayor is?

“I’m very much in favour of powerful mayors in the West of England and elsewhere,” said Mr Johnson.

“But what I want to see is a strong Conservative mayor in London and across the West Midlands and West of England and across the whole of the country.”

Question: You have a Conservative mayor in the West of England at the moment, I just wondered if you know who that person is?

“Well I can tell you I’ll be out campaigning for the West of England mayor, and all Conservative candidates, throughout the week,” said Mr Johnson.

Question: So you don’t know who Tim Bowles is, your current mayor? The reason I ask is because voters are being asked to go to the polls to vote on mayors, metro mayors, police commissioners, local – four ballot papers in some cases. It’s very confusing for people isn’t it?

Mr Johnson: “There is a very simple solution, is vote Conservative, you won’t go wrong. That’s my answer.”

The West of England mayor and combined authority together have powers over spending, previously held by central government, on the region’s transport, housing, adult education and skills.