Here’s Johnson’s resignation speech in full†
Good afternoon everyone. Good afternoon. Thank you. Thank you. It is now clear the will of the parliamentary Conservative Party for a new leader of that party and thus a new Prime Minister, and I agree with Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of our backbench MPs, that the process of that new leader must start now and the timetable will be announced next week.
And I have appointed a cabinet today to serve – as I will – until there is a new leader.
So I want to say to the millions of people who voted for us in 2019, many of them voted conservative for the first time. Thank you for that incredible mandate — the largest Conservative majority since 1987, the largest share of a vote since 1979.
And the reason I’ve fought so hard in the past few days to continue to carry out that mandate personally was not just because I wanted to, but because I felt it was my job, my duty, my duty to you to keep going. doing what we promised in 2019.
And, of course, I’m immensely proud of the achievements of this government — from getting Brexit done, to managing our relations with the continent for more than half a century, to reclaiming the power for this country to make its own laws. in parliament, us through the entire pandemic, with the fastest vaccine rollout in Europe, the fastest way out of lockdown and in the last few months leading the West in resisting Putin’s aggression in Ukraine.
And now let me say to the people of Ukraine that I know that we in the UK will continue to support your fight for freedom for as long as it takes.
And at the same time, in this country, we’ve pushed forward a massive investment program in infrastructure, in skills and technology — the largest in a century. Because if I have one insight into man, it is that genius and talent and enthusiasm and imagination are equally distributed among the population. But chances are not. And that’s why we need to keep leveling up, unleashing the potential in every part of the UK. And if we can do that, we will be the most prosperous in Europe in this country.
And for the past few days, I’ve been trying to convince my colleagues that it would be eccentric to change governments when we deliver so much, when we have such a huge mandate, and when we’re really just a handful of points behind in the polls — even in the medium term after quite a few months of quite relentless sledding — and when the economic situation at home and abroad is so difficult.
I regret not having succeeded in those arguments, and of course it is painful not to be able to see through so many ideas and projects myself. But as we’ve seen in Westminster, the herd instinct is powerful when the herd moves, it moves.
And my friends in politics, no one is remotely indispensable, and our brilliant and Darwinian system will produce a new leader equally committed to helping this country through difficult times. Not just helping families get through it, but changing and improving the way we do things — reducing the burden on businesses and families and yes, lower taxes, because that’s the way to generate the growth and income we need. have to pay for great public services.
And to that new leader I say wherever he or she is, I say I will support you as much as possible. And for you, the British public — I know there will be a lot of people who will be relieved and maybe quite a few will be disappointed too. And I want you to know how sad I am to give up the best job in the world. But those are the breaks.
I want to thank Carrie and our children for all the members of my family who endured so much for so long. I would like to thank the incomparable British civil service for all the help and support you have given to our police, our emergency services and of course our fantastic NHS which has helped at critical juncture to extend my own tenure, as well as our armed forces and our agencies all over the world. world are so admired and our tireless members and supporters of the Conservative Party whose selfless campaigns make our democracy possible.
I want to say thank you to the wonderful staff here at Checkers — all the way here at number 10 — and of course at Checkers and our fantastic propforce detectives, the only group, by the way, who never leak.
Above all, I would like to thank you, the British public, for the immense privilege you have given me. And I want you to know that from now on, until the new Prime Minister is appointed, your interests will be served and the government of the country will continue.
Being Prime Minister is an education in itself. I have traveled to every part of the UK and beyond the beauty of our natural world, I find so many people who possess such boundless British originality and are so willing to tackle old problems in new ways that I know that even if things can sometimes seem dark now, our future together is golden.
Thank you all very much. Thank you.
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