What did Boris Johnson’s resignation speech say?

Boris Johnson told the public “thank you” in his speech announcing his resignation as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

While he admitted that he did not want to leave, he affirmed a truth in British politics: “no one is remotely indispensable.”

Johnson is the third Prime Minister for the Conservative Party the country has seen in the last six years. Both David Cameron and Teresa May also left office after facing disagreements and pressure from their fellow Tories.

During his short remarks he said he would support the next leader who took his place. However, no information was released about when he would be leaving or who he would like to see succeed him.

“It might feel dark now but the future together is golden,” said Johnson to close this historic speech.

Boris Johnson’s full resignation speech

Below is the full text of the speech he made outside his official Downing Street residence announcing his resignation:

“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, and I’ve agreed with Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of our backbench MPs, that the process of choosing that new leader should begin now and the timetable will be announced next week. And I’ve today appointed a cabinet to serve, as I will, until the 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.’

“And 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.

“And of course, I’m 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 rollout 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.

“And let me say now, to the people of Ukraine, that I know that we in the UK will continue to back your fight for freedom for as long as it takes.

“And at the same time, in this country, we’ve been pushing forward a vast programme of investment in infrastructure and 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 distributed throughout the population but opportunity is not. And that’s why we must keep levelling up, keep unleashing the potential in every part of the United Kingdom. And if we could do that, in this country, we will be the most prosperous in Europe.

“And in the last few days, I’ve tried to persuade my colleagues that it would be eccentric to change governments when we’re 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 midterm after quite a few months of pretty relentless sledging and when the economic scene is so difficult domestically and internationally.

“And 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. And my friends, in politics, no one is remotely indispensable, and 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.

“And to that new leader, I say wherever 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 that there will be many people who are relieved and perhaps quite a few who will also be disappointed. And I want you to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the world. But them’s the breaks.

“I want to thank Carrie and our children, all 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 that 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 whose selfless campaigning makes our democracy possible.

“I want to thank the wonderful staff here at Number 10 and of course Chequers, and our fantastic prop force detectives, the one group, by the way, who never leak.

“Above all I want to thank you, the British public for the immense privilege that you have given me. And 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’ve travelled to every part of the United Kingdom and in addition to the beauty of our natural world, I found so many people possessed of such boundless British originality and 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.”

Why is Johnson resigning?

After the scandal surrounding Chris Pincher became public, his party quickly turned on him.

Over the last forty-eight hours, fifty-nine Members of Parliament have resigned from the government positions. When it seemed that Johnson would not resign, many members of his party and cabinet took to 10 Downing to tell him that the play was over and that the only option was for him to step aside and allow a new leader to emerge.

Those who have left their jobs in governmnet will remain in their seats as parliamentarians and will have a say over who will replace Johnson.

Boris Johnson had rejected calls to resign based on the sizable majority he received in 2019. However, the world is very different today than it was during that election. The Covid-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the economic crisis caused by both events has led to the quickest decrease in the standard of living in the United Kingdom in decades. Johnson’s popularity, as well as that of the Conservative Party has dropped significantly since 2019 and their chances in a General election are unclear.

When will Johnson be leaving?

It remains unclear how long Johnson will stay at the helm. Opposition leaders see him as a major threat to national security after he admitted yesterday to meeting with a top KGB officer without other government agents and did not report the meeting to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. Additionally, he refused to anwser a question before other MPs about whether he knew of other accusations of sexual misconduct by other party leader he had appointed to positions of power.

Should Johnson chose to remain in power until autumn he may face a vote of no confidence by the entire parliament and be forced out. While, opposition leaders have called for general elections, it is unlikely to happen with the Conservative Party still having much power to determine the way the political crisis will be handled.