This morning, Boris Johnson arrived in Scotland on his way to deliver the Queen his letter of resignation after praising his legacy in a characteristically brash Downing Street parting address.
In advance of his meeting with the 96-year-old king at Balmoral, where he will formally step down from office, the departing prime minister arrived in Aberdeen.
Ms. Truss is figuratively waiting in the wings as she travels to the north on a different aircraft to see the Queen and create a new administration.
Early this morning, Mr. Johnson left Downing Street for the last time after delivering a loud and traditional allusion-filled speech to the country.
The departing PM put on a brave face as he said, “This is it, guys,” while being observed by MPs, advisers, and sympathisers on the steps of No. 10.
After leaving via the fabled black door with his wife Carrie, he boasted that during a nearly three-year tenure, he “got Brexit done” and managed the “fastest vaccination rollout.”
He made it clear that whatever the financial hardship his “blackmail” on gas prices has caused, Britain must keep fighting Vladimir Putin’s aggressiveness in Ukraine.
Additionally, Mr. Johnson said: “The baton will be passed over in what has unexpectedly turned out to be a relay race” in a jab at MPs for abruptly removing him. Midway through, the regulations were amended, but it is irrelevant anymore.
Laughter was also elicited when Mr. Johnson compared himself to a “booster rocket” that was being launched and said he would hide on a little island in the Pacific Ocean. And he complimented the workers for putting up with his misbehaving dog Dilyn.
I would only provide this administration with the utmost support, he said. It’s time for us to all rally behind Liz Truss because we will overcome this and emerge stronger.
Before boarding a government vehicle with Carrie and their two kids, Mr. Johnson shook hands with members of the audience, which included current and past Cabinet ministers as well as Jacob Rees-Mogg and one of his sons.
Nadine Dorries, the ultra-loyal Culture Secretary, was present. Liz Truss begged her to remain, but she chose to go back to the back benches. There are rumours that she will be given a peerage.
“I am humbled that your successor has extended her faith in me by inviting me to stay as Secretary of State for DCMS,” she said in her resignation letter to departing Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
But she said: “I have personally told our soon-to-be prime minister that I would be better-placed to help her from outside of the Cabinet.” She added that “after considerable consideration” she had chosen to resign.
Due to inclement weather that was anticipated to hamper his trip, Mr. Johnson was obliged to move up his speech. At 11.20 a.m., he is scheduled to see the 96-year-old king at Balmoral in the Cairngorms. Royal attendants are notoriously punctual.
Ms. Truss, who will formally be invited to form a Government as prime minister, will follow Mr. Johnson into the royal house quickly.
Truss develops a £100 billion strategy to stabilise energy costs for residences and businesses.
With the newly appointed Prime Minister planning to use her address outside No. 10 later today to kick off a “100 day policy blitz,” Liz Truss’ ministers are in negotiations with energy executives on a £100 billion proposal to “freeze” costs for families and companies for two years.
In a “shock and awe” effort to establish her grip on government, the new Tory leader, who replaces Boris Johnson as Prime Minister today, will freeze energy prices, cut taxes, and overhaul the NHS.
In an effort to bring her warring party together and forcefully address the cost of living problem, rapid choices will be made.
Her ministers were in negotiations with energy executives yesterday night to work out the specifics of a bill “freeze” that might last two years, cost £100 billion, and be unveiled by Thursday.
The new prime minister is said to be contemplating relaxing the fracking moratorium and increasing North Sea gas exploitation as part of her energy strategy to increase domestic supply.
Yesterday, members voted to affirm Miss Truss as the Conservative Party’s leader after she defeated Rishi Sunak by a margin of 57:43.
She made a promise to “deliver, deliver, deliver” in her victory speech.
I will provide an audacious strategy to lower taxes and expand our economy, she said. I will address the situation of rising energy prices by addressing both the short-term problems with our energy supply as well as the long-term ones that affect people’s energy bills. And about the National Health Service, I will deliver.
In his address, Mr. Johnson said that Putin was “utterly misguided” if he believed that ‘blackmailing and intimidating’ the British population by limiting gas supply would succeed in raising global prices.
“We have and will maintain that economic power to provide people with the money they need to get through this energy catastrophe that has been brought on by Putin’s terrible conflict,” Mr. Johnson said.
“I know that Liz Truss and this kind-hearted Conservative administration will do all we can to help people get through this crisis, and this nation will survive it and we will win,” she said.
“I’m happy to have fulfilled the pledges I made to my party when you were gracious enough to pick me,” said Mr. Johnson after securing the largest majority and vote share since 1979 and 1987, respectively.
“Delivering Brexit, fulfilling our manifesto pledges, including, incidentally, social care reform, assisting citizens across, and making sure that Britain is once again a leader in the world.”
“Speaking with clarity and authority, from the Aukus accord with America and Australia to Ukraine, since we are one full and whole United Kingdom, whose ambassador security services, and military forces are so highly esteemed on a worldwide scale.”
In addition, I feel that our relationship is so powerful that no matter how hard others attempt to destroy it, they will never, ever succeed.
According to Mr. Johnson, unemployment is at levels last seen when he was 10 years old and “bouncing about on a space hopper.”
“Looking at what’s happening in this nation and the changes that are occurring, that is why private sector investment is streaming in – more private sector, more venture capital investment than China itself,” he remarked.
The UK is home to more billion-pound digital startups than France, Germany, and Israel put together.
“And as a consequence, unemployment as I leave office is down to lows I haven’t experienced since I was approximately 10 years old and riding around on a space hopper,” the speaker said.
Mr. Johnson responded to a call for togetherness from disgruntled MPs by saying that if his dog Dilyn and cat Larry can “put behind them their periodic issues,” then the Tory party can as well.
“Thank you to everyone in this building behind me,” he remarked. All of you in the government are appreciated. I want to express my gratitude to everyone who has helped take care of my family and I over the last three years, especially Dilyn the dog.
I just tell my party that if Dilyn and Larry can overcome their sporadic struggles, then the Conservative Party can, too.
“First and foremost, I want to thank you, the British people, the voters, for giving me the opportunity to serve. You all fought so hard to defeat Covid and bring us to where we are now.
Together, we have built strong stonework on which we will continue to build, paving the way for prosperity both today and for future generations.
This includes regaining control of our laws and installing necessary new infrastructure.
I promise to back Liz Truss and the incoming administration wholeheartedly.
It’s time for politics to end, he urged his fellow Conservatives.
“The economy is having a hard time right now.” Families around the nation are having a difficult time right now, he added.
“We can and will overcome it, and we’ll emerge from it stronger.”
“However, I tell my fellow Conservatives that it’s time for politics to end, people.
“It’s time for all of us to support Liz Truss, her staff, and her programme so they can do what has to be done for the citizens of this nation.” Because it is what the nation’s citizens want. They need that. That’s what they deserve, too.
After Mr. Johnson’s farewell address, Tory MPs showered him with adulation, while Labour piled on with criticism.
David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, referred to Mr. Johnson as “the worst Prime Minister of the modern age” and said that in his resignation address, he enumerated “imaginary successes.”
Boris Johnson’s frantic effort to establish a legacy by standing outside Downing Street and touting fictitious accomplishments won’t deceive anybody, Mr. Lammy tweeted.
Goodbye to the worst prime minister in modern history.
Mr. Johnson hinted at his own future ambitions by saying he would follow in the footsteps of Cincinnatus, a Roman politician who fought against invasion before going back to his farm.
He compared himself to a booster rocket that has served its purpose when he declared in his farewell speech: “On the question of bouncing about in future jobs.
I’m going to softly re-enter the atmosphere at this point, then splash down invisibly in some far-off region of the Pacific.
“Like Cincinnatus, I’m getting back to my plough, and I’ll be giving this Government nothing but the utmost support,” he said.
As he seeks to maintain a low profile after leaving his position as prime minister, the former premier is most likely to forgo the Conservative Party conference this fall.
While his followers are still holding out hope that he would make a return, he intends to spend the next few weeks “serving his constituency” and supporting Liz Truss.
He would now be a “private person,” according to a Whitehall source, and would “probably not” attend his party’s annual autumn meeting in Birmingham next month.
According to reports, the departing prime minister will refrain from making prominent political comments but is expected to join the lucrative lecture circuit and publish his memoirs. Will Walden, Mr. Johnson’s communications director when he served as mayor of London, predicted yesterday that he would “go off to earn a lot of money” on LBC radio.
As they were ready to depart Downing Street with their kids, Mr. Johnson’s wife Carrie gave a heartfelt homage to his stint as Prime Minister amid the rumours surrounding his future.
She shared a picture of herself, Mr. Johnson, and their kids Wilfred, 2, and Romy, 9, exiting No. 10 together for the last time on Instagram.
She was carrying Romy while donning a long white dress, and Wilfred, who was clutching his parents’ hands, kicked with his left leg. Mrs. Johnson, 33, posted a brief blog entry about the picture that spoke about how pleased her kids were spending time at No. 10 and Chequers. The family will wait outside No. 10 today to listen to Mr. Johnson’s last remarks.
Additionally, Mr. Walden told ITV that only a “small circle of very, very dedicated Boris acolytes” would support Mr. Johnson staging a comeback, and that it would take a “weird combination of circumstances” for him to do so.
However, Lord Udny-Lister, Mr. Johnson’s former chief of staff at No. 10, said over the weekend that the Conservative MPs would later regret their decision to remove him and that he would be persuaded to compete for leader once again.