Boris Johnson has complained that the Conservatives “changed the rules” as he complained about his removal from office during his final speech as prime minister.
The outgoing leader said he was “passing the torch” to Liz Truss, before making a bitter reference to the revolt which forced him out just three years after the 2019 general election victory.
“The baton will be handed over in what has unexpectedly turned out to be a relay race – they changed the rules halfway through, but never mind,” he said outside No 10.
Despite speculation that he is plotting a comeback, Mr Johnson signalled that he will step back from frontline politics after leaving Downing Street.
He declared that, like the boosters jettisoned as a space rocket streaks skywards, “I will now be re-entering the atmosphere and splashing down invisibly in some remote and obscure corner of the Pacific”.
The departing PM also promised the most “fervent” support to his successor Ms Truss from the Tory backbenches, and issued a plea for Conservatives to end infighting and rally behind her.
Referring to his pet dog and the Downing Street cat, he said: “If Dilyn and Larry can put behind them their occasional differences, then so too can the Conservative Party”.
In an attempt to shape his legacy as PM, Mr Johnson said he was “proud to have discharged the promises” he made on being chosen as Tory leader in 2019, claiming to have delivered Brexit and social care reform.
He claimed that he had helped ensure Britain was “standing tall in the world” and boasted of “speaking with clarity and authority” over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But much of his address amounted to a list of unfulfilled promises, in an apparent attempt to lock his successor in to delivering unfinished business, such as recruiting 20,000 more police and 50,000 nurses and building 40 new hospitals, three high-speed rail lines and a nuclear reactor every year.
He made clear he expects a major intervention in the cost of living crisis, saying: “I know that Liz Truss and this compassionate Conservative government will do everything we can to get people through this crisis and this country will endure it and we will win.”
Mr Johnson also hailed the success of the Covid vaccines rollout. “The people who delivered the fastest vaccine rollout in Europe … That is government for you. That’s this Conservative government.”
Ms Truss – heading to Balmoral to see the Queen shortly after Mr Johnson – has promised a “bold plan” to cut taxes, deal with the energy crisis and deliver a Tory victory in 2024.
She is expected to begin a cabinet reshuffle as soon as Tuesday afternoon after she delivers her first address to the nation as prime minister from Downing Street around 4pm.
Kaynak: briturkish.com
