A body language specialist said today that Boris Johnson “bit his words as he spoke” in a goodbye address that was full of “anger” and “punching and chopping movements.”
When the departing Prime Minister and wife Carrie left 10 Downing Street, Judi James said that he “looked like a huge kid being sent off at the gate.”
At the time when Liz Truss was getting ready to become the next prime minister and provide a strategy to deal with the energy issue, Mr. Johnson promised his support for her.
Ms. James said, however, that Mr. Johnson’s “thumb-jerk towards the glistening black door behind him appeared like a gesture to keep it ajar for him” in a statement to MailOnline.
And when addressing the assembled journalists, she said that his “finger jabbed down into the lectern as his other hand hacked away like a butcher chopping meat.”
She said that when he proceeded to recount his accomplishments, including his government’s performance on Brexit, backing for Ukraine, and Covid-19 vaccinations, his “upper lip clenched in wrath.”
His words were referred to by Ms. James as a “wartime speech,” and she said that his body language was “the most angry I have ever seen it.”
specialist in body language Jimmy James
His vocal and nonverbal cues appeared to be asking, “What the f… have you done?” as his tone darkened.
He talked nearly entirely without smiling, biting his words as he delivered them, and using forceful head batons to emphasise the fact that his work had “unexpectedly turned out to be a relay,” as he put it.
Ms. James said that Boris Johnson “looked for all the world like a huge schoolboy being dropped off at the gates on the first day of term” when he initially appeared clutching his wife’s hand.
“But then she was dismissed to stroll off towards a distraught-looking Nadine Dorries, allowing Boris to unleash the full, searing, hairdryer power of his rage and resentment,” the speaker added.
According to Ms. James, “His other hand hacked away like a butcher chopping meat as his finger plunged down into the lectern.” He once struck the lectern so forcefully that the dual microphones wobbled, and then he turned to hitting the air.
Today, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson delivers a speech in front of 10 Downing Street.
She also noted that while he had promised to support Liz Truss, “his delivery of her name was strange” since he had stopped between “Liz” and “Truss”.
He jabbed a finger on each syllable, but the midway delay suggested a subtly lowering of her rank, as if he had already forgotten her name, according to Ms. James.
Although there was a gathering of ministers who had been bouncing on their heels before his arrival in what seemed to be a ritual of collective desire to be done with the farewells and get back to their jobs, “his walk-off with Carrie saw him embracing and kissing his way through the mob.”
The Queen will appoint Miss Truss as prime minister later today, and she is said to be preparing ideas for a bill freeze that might cost up to £100 billion.
Yesterday, Miss Truss defeated Mr. Johnson to become the next leader of the Conservative Party. As prime minister, she will address the country from Downing Street later today, but storms predicted for Westminster may force her to speak from No. 10 itself.
Mr. Johnson was able to give his goodbye speech from a platform outside the black door of No. 10 with the help of his wife Carrie, as well as sympathetic MPs like Nadine Dorries and Jacob Rees-Mogg.
Vladimir Putin, according to the Prime Minister, was “utterly misguided” if he believed he could intimidate and coerce the British people into buying more expensive gas by limiting supply.
But Mr. Johnson remarked, “The baton will be passed over in what has suddenly turned out to be a relay race, they altered the regulations halfway through, but never mind that now,” in an indication of continuing animosity at the way he was driven out.
He compared his professional life to a booster rocket that had “fulfilled its duty” and would now softly reenter the atmosphere before splashing down quietly in a distant area of the Pacific.
It is a “difficult period for the economy,” Mr. Johnson said, “and I will be providing this government nothing but my most enthusiastic support.” He urged Conservatives to back the incoming leader.
It’s time for politics to end, people, he told his fellow Conservatives.
“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.
And if Larry the No. 10 cat and Dilyn the Johnsons’ dog “can put behind them their occasional challenges, then so can the Conservative Party,” he said.