Boris’s speech in full: Read and watch PM’s 372-second resignation from the steps of Downing Street
- Boris Johnson makes 372-second resignation speech in Downing Street
- He confirms he will stand down as Prime Minister once new Tory leader elected
- He says he is ‘sad’ to be ‘giving up the best job in the world’ and blasts rebel MPs
Here is the full text of Boris Johnson’s 372-second resignation speech as he confirmed he is standing down as Prime Minister:
‘Good afternoon.
‘It is clearly now the will of the parliamentary Conservative Party that there should be a new leader of that party and therefore a new prime minister.
‘I have agreed with Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of our backbench MPs, that the process of choosing that new leader will begin now.
‘The timetable will be announced next week and I have today appointed a Cabinet to serve, as I will until a new leader is in place.
‘So I want to say to the millions of people who voted for us in 2019 – many of them voting Conservative for the first time – thank you for that incredible mandate.
‘The biggest Conservative majority since 1987, the biggest share of the vote since 1979.
‘The reason I have fought so hard in the last few days to continue to deliver that mandate in person was not just because I wanted to do so, but because I felt it was my job, my duty, my obligation to you to continue to do what we promised in 2019.
‘Of course I am immensely proud of the achievements of this Government from getting Brexit done, to settling our relations with the Continent for over half a century, reclaiming the power for this country to make its own laws in Parliament, getting us all through the pandemic, delivering the fastest vaccine roll-out in Europe, the fastest exit from lockdown and – in the last few months – leading the West in standing up to Putin’s aggression in Ukraine.
‘Let me say now to the people of Ukraine that I know we in the UK will continue to back your fight for freedom for as long as it takes.
‘At the same time, in this country, we’ve been pushing forward a vast programme of investment in infrastructure, skills and technology – the biggest in a century.
‘Because if I have one insight into human beings, it is that genius and talent and enthusiasm and imagination are evenly distrubuted throughout the population, but opportunity is not.
‘That’s why we must keep levelling up, keep unleashing the potential of every part of the UK.
‘If we can do that in this country, we will be the most prosperous in Europe.
‘In the last few days I have tried to persuade my colleagues it would be eccentric to change governments when we are delivering so much and when we have such a vast mandate and when we’re actually only a handful of points behind in the polls.
‘Even in mid-term after quite a few months of pretty relentless sledging and when the economic scene is so difficult domestically and internationally.
‘I regret not to have been successful in those arguments and, of course, it’s painful not to be able to see through so many ideas and projects myself.
‘But, as we’ve seen at Westminster, the herd instinct is powerful and when the herd moves, it moves.
‘My friends, in politics, no one is remotely indispensable.
‘Our brilliant and Darwinian system will produce another leader equally committed to taking this country forward through tough times.
‘Not just helping families to get through it but changing and improving the way we do things – cutting burdens on businesses and families and, yes, cutting taxes.
‘Because that is the way to generate the growth and the income we need to pay for great public services.
‘To that new leader, whoever he or she may be, I say I will give you as much support as I can.
‘And to you, the British public, I know there will be many people who will be relieved and, perhaps, quite a few who will also be disappointed.
‘I want you to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the world, but thems the breaks.
‘I want to thank Carrie and our children and all the members of my family who have had to put up with so much for so long.
‘I want to thank the peerless British civil service for all the help and support you have given.
‘Our police, our emergency services and, of course, our fantastic NHS who – at a critical moment – helped to extend my own period in office.
‘As well as our armed services and our agencies that are so admired around the world.
‘And our indefatigable Conservative Party members and supporters who selfless campaigning makes our democracy possible.
‘I want to thank the wonderful staff here at Number 10 and, of course, at Chequers and our fantastic Prot. Force detectives – the one group, by the way, who never leak.
‘Above all, I want to thank you, the British public, the immense privilege that you have given me.
‘I want you to know that, from now on until the new prime minister is in place, your interests will be served and the government of the country will be carried on.
‘Being prime minister is an education in itself – I have travelled to every part of the UK and, in addition to the beauty of our natural world, I have found so many people possessed of such boundless British originality and so willing to tackle old problems in new ways.
‘So I know that even if things can sometimes seem dark now, our future together is golden.’
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