Dwayne Johnson swiftly backtracks on claim that he's 'Boris Johnson's cousin'

Dwayne Johnson ploughed a hasty retreat after he joked that Boris Johnson was his cousin during an appearance on Good Morning Britain.

In a jovial chat with veteran celeb reporter Ross King, The Rock commented on the recent appointment of Johnson as prime minister.

“He's family, by the way,” Johnson said. “You don't know that, and now all the Brits know. He is. He's my cousin.

“Again, it's like looking in the mirror, every time I see Boris.”

Yep, it’s uncanny.

But it wasn't long before The Rock was going back on this, having seemingly been schooled by fans on the divisive new British leader.

Taking to Twitter, Johnson said: “Well according to the people, maybe we’re not related after all.

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“Big mahalo to my people who I can always rely on to give me the real talk and swift perspective & education on the individual I did not know.

“Tequila on me, Britain.”

We may need it.

Offering a prompt response to the “swift perspective” offered by his British Twitter followers is just another example of The Rock’s killer social media strategy.

According to Hollywood sources, Johnson reportedly charges $1m a tweet to promote his own movies.

Johnson is doing the press rounds ahead of Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw, the F&F franchise spin-off starring him and Jason Statham as Agent Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw, criminal mastermind turned ally as they trail genetically enhanced villain Brixton Lore, a rogue MI6 agent played by Idris Elba.

It lands in the UK on 1 August. Check out the trailer below.