Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Farewell speech as Broadcast at on Tuesday, 06 September 2022 0400hrs LMT
Transcript by J Brock (FINN) for the South Atlantic Islands News Team
Boris Johnson giving his farewell speech Photo © BBC
Thank you everybody for coming out so early this morning.
In only a couple of hours I will be in Balmoral to see Her Majesty the queen. And the torch will finally be passed to a new conservative leader. The baton will be handed over in what has unexpectedly turned out to be a relay race. They changed the rules half-way through but never mind that now.
And through that lacquered black door, a new Prime Minister will shortly go to meet a fantastic group of public servants – the people who got Brexit done – The people who delivered the fastest vaccine rollout in Europe. And never forget, 70% of the entire population got a dose within six months faster than any culpable country. That is Government for you that’s this Conservative Government- people who organised those prompt early supplies of weapons to the heroic Ukrainian armed forces – an action that may very well have helped change the course of the biggest European war for 80 years.
Because of the speed and urgency of what you did – everybody involved in this Government to get this economy moving again from July last year, in spite of all the opposition – all the Nay Sayers – we have and will continue to have that economic strength to give people the cash they need to get through this energy crisis that has been caused by Putin’s vicious war. And I know that Liz Truss’ Conservative Government will do everything we can to get people through this crisis and this country will endure it and we will win.
And if Putin thinks that he can succeed by blackmailing or bullying the British people, then he is utterly deluded.
And the reason we will have those funds now and in the future is because we Conservatives understand the vital symmetry between Government action and free market capitalist private sector enterprise.
We are delivering on those huge manifesto commitments – making streets safer – neighbourhood crime down 38% in the last 3 years, 13,790 more Police on the streets – building more hospitals and yes we will have 50,000 more nurses by the end of the decade and – 50,000 by the end of this Parliament, I should say – 40 more hospitals by the end of the decade – putting record funding into our schools and into teachers’ pay – giving everybody over 18 a life-time skills guarantee so they can keep up-skilling throughout their lives – three new high-speed rail lines – three – including Northern Power House Row (best fit) – colossal road programmes from the Pennines to Cornwall, the roll out of gigabyte broadband (I think he means 5-G) – up over the last three years I am proud to say since you were kind enough to elect me – from 7% of our country having 5G to 70% today. And we of course providing the short – and long-term solutions for our energy needs and not just using our own domestic hydrocarbons but going up by 2030 to 50 Gigawatts of wind power. That is half of our country’s energy electricity needs from offshore wind alone.
A new nuclear reactor every year and looking at what is happening in this country – the changes that are taking place – that is why the public sector is flooding in. More private sector – more venture capital investment in China itself – more billion pounds tec companies sprouting here in the UK but in France, Germany and Israel combined and as a result as I leave office, unemployment is down to levels I haven’t seen since I was 10 years old when I was bouncing around on a space hopper.
On the subject of bouncing around – in future careers – let me say that I am now like one of those booster rockets that has fulfilled its function and I will now gently be re-entering the atmosphere and splashing down invisibly in some remote and obscure corner of the Pacific.
And like Cincinnatus I am returning to my plan; and I will be offering this government nothing but the most fervent support.
I tell you what. This is a tough time for the economy – this is a tough time for families up and down the country. We can and we will get through to you. We will come out stronger on the other side. But I say to my fellow Conservatives, “It’s time for politics to be over, folks.”
It’s time for us all to get behind Liz Truss and her team and her programme and deliver to the people of this country because that is what the people of this country want, that is what they need and that is what they deserve.
I am proud to have discharged the promises I made to my party when you were kind enough to choose me. Winning the biggest majority since 1987 – the biggest share of the vote since 1979 – delivering Brexit – delivering our manifesto including by the way, social care, helping people up and down the country – ensuring that Britain once again is standing tall in the world – speaking with clarity and Authority from Ukraine, to the ORCUS (best fit) pact with America and Australia because we are one whole and United Kingdom, whose diplomats, security services and armed forces are so globally admired.
By the way, as I leave, I believe our union is so strong that those who want to break it up will keep trying but they will never, ever succeed.
Thank you to everybody by me in this building. Thank all you to everybody in Government, thank you to everybody who looked after me and my family over the past three years including Dillon the Dog. I just say that if Dillon and Larry can put their difficulties behind them, so can the Conservative Party.
Above all, thanks to you, the British people – to the voters for giving me the chance to serve – all of you who worked so tirelessly together to beat COVID – to put us where we are today. Together we have laid foundations that will stand the test of time, whereby taking back control of our laws or by putting in vital new infrastructure – great, sorted masonry on which we will continue to build together – paving the path of prosperity now and for future generations.
And I will be supporting Liz Truss and the new Government every step of the way.
Thank you all very much! Thank you and good bye. Thank you.
