LONDON (Parliament Politics Magazine) – In his farewell address to the nation, Boris Johnson compared himself to a booster rocket that has served its purpose.
The departing prime minister said, “This is it folks,” while speaking to a packed crowd outside Downing Street.
To the Conservative Party, Mr Johnson said that “it is time to get behind” the new prime minister and promised to “stand behind Liz Truss every step of the way.”
He lauded the accomplishments of his administration, stressing Brexit, the vaccine rollout and the response to the crisis in Ukraine.
He blamed President Putin for the rise in energy prices and assured Ms. Truss and her administration that they would do everything they could to get through the crisis.
Regarding changing careers in the future, Mr. Johnson hinted as to what he intended to do next: “On the subject of bouncing around in future careers, let me add that I am now like one of those booster rockets that has fulfilled its function.”
Adding that he would now be subtly reentering the atmosphere before silently splashing down in a distant area and an obscure corner of the Pacific.
Mr. Johnson made fun of the way he was removed from office by remarking that “the rules were changed halfway through” this “relay race” of administration.
However, he asserted that the Conservative Party can put behind them their difficulties if Dilyn the Johnsons’ dog and Larry the No. 10 cat could do it.
He continued by drawing a comparison between himself and Cincinnatus, a Roman statesman who quit and went back to his farm.
Like Cincinnatus, Mr. Johnson declared, he was going back to his plough and he shall be giving this government nothing but the most fervent support.
It was a typical Boris Johnson speech, absolutely delusional about what had happened over the few years and the crisis that people were suffering, said the deputy leader of the Labour Party Angela Rayner to Sky News.
She continued saying that the scandal and filth that had consumed his government and his party over the last few years had not been acknowledged.
After a wave of ministers quit his cabinet due to a string of scandals that culminated in the Chris Pincher controversy, Mr. Johnson was compelled to step down.
There have been rumours that he may orchestrate a Trump-style comeback from the backbenches in defiance.
Before Liz Truss arrives, the departing prime minister will leave for Balmoral to formally present his resignation to the monarch.
After receiving a formal invitation from the Queen to form a government, Ms. Truss will take office as the leader of the party and prime minister. She was named the victor of the Conservative leadership contest on Monday.
She congratulated “my friend” Mr. Johnson on Monday as she acknowledged her victory.
“Boris, you got Brexit done, you crushed Jeremy Corbyn, you rolled out the vaccine and you stood up to Vladimir Putin. You were admired from Kyiv to Carlisle,” she said.
After addressing the nation for the first time as prime minister on Tuesday afternoon, Ms. Truss will return to Westminster and begin selecting her ministerial team.
