Boris Johnson says goodbye to UK as he reprimands whoever forced him to resign | international

Classic Boris Johnson until the last minute. Early on Tuesday morning, the most popular conservative British politician of recent decades surrounded himself with loyalists and friends outside 10 Downing Street, the home and residence of the UK prime minister, to bid farewell to the nation. , in speech like all of his. , full of classic jokes and quotes, but without the slightest sign of regret. A spectator oblivious to the reality of recent months would have thought on hearing that Johnson was ending up, with a brilliant mandate and prosperity, rather than having to resign abruptly when a wave of scandals in his government embarrassed his and the party. citizens. “That’s it, friends,” he said in front of dozens of media outlets.

“The baton has just been handed over, in what no one expected will end up in the relay race. They decided to change the rules halfway, but that doesn’t matter now,” Johnson rebuked all the Conservative MPs who finally concluded, in mid-July, that the time had come To press the nuclear button and cause the first resignation. Minister. To the end, Johnson was convinced that he had a solid mandate – his landslide victory in the 2019 general election – and that his downfall was an irresponsible and absurd move by a group of conspirators.

However, Johnson, who at once departed for Balmoral Castle, in the Scottish Highlands, to inform Elizabeth II of his resignation, wanted words of support for his successor, Liz Truss, to whom he promised “the most ardent support”. Soon, the Queen will also meet with the task of forming a new government in her name. At 5 p.m., Spanish Peninsula time, the new Prime Minister will deliver her own address to the nation, as well as at the gates of the Downing Street residence.

“This is a tough time for the economy and for families across the country, but we can come out of this stronger and we will get out of it. But I must say to my fellow Conservatives that it is time to end the political maneuvering. We must all support Liz Truss, her team and the program of her government,” the outgoing prime minister said. and respond to citizens.

Before his wife, Carey, and his most loyal ally in his three years in office, Johnson reviewed what he considers the indisputable achievements of his term: victory in the polls in 2019, the eventual conquest of Brexit, the UK’s new assertiveness in the international arena or the fight against the pandemic. The outgoing prime minister’s words, jokes and scholarly sayings left, as usual, an open letter to various interpretations. “In terms of future career, or the possibility of a return, let me say I am like one of those space rockets that, having accomplished its mission, will gently re-enter the atmosphere only to end up falling into the dark. And the remote corner of the Pacific Ocean.” But then he transformed into a character he had already quoted on several occasions, towards the end of his career as mayor of London. “Like Cincinnatus, I return to my field assignments,” he said, in memory of that Roman aristocrat, an example of uprightness and honesty, whom the Senate again summoned to serve as dictator of Rome for the second time. It was this second derivative, not the quiet retreat to his rural areas, that alarmed Johnson’s opponents, who never believed he would surely leave the political scene, having occupied such a privileged place over the past decades.

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