BORIS: WE WILL COME OUT OF THIS DARKNESS FIGHTING FIT
PM SETS OUT VISION ON HOUSING FOR THE YOUNG AND FIXING SOCIAL CARE
BORIS Johnson vowed to conquer Covid which he pledged would pave the way for a “bright future”. Promising a 10- year programme of national
recovery, the Prime Minister said the country could learn lessons from the “darkest moments” of the pandemic to build a “new Jerusalem” of prosperity and opportunity.
He put Margaret Thatcher’s home ownership dream for all at the heart of his plan with long- term, fixed- rate mortgages worth up to 95 per cent of a property’s value.
Mr Johnson yesterday sought to reassure the party faithful of his commitment to traditional principles of free enterprise, competitive taxes and rolling back state intervention – and hinted at an insurance- style social care system.
Vowing to beat the virus, he said: “I believe it is a measure of the greatness of this country that we are simply not going to let it hold us back or slow us down.
“Even in the darkest moments we can see the bright future ahead, and we can see how to build it and we are going to build it together.”
He said of Covid: “I have had more than enough of this disease that attacks not only human beings but so many of the greatest things about our country: our pubs, our clubs, our football, our theatre and all the gossipy gregariousness and love of human contact that drives the creativity of our economy.”
Evoking his hero Winston Churchill, Mr Johnson said: “In the depths of the Second World War, in 1942 when just about everything had gone wrong, the Government sketched out a vision of the postwar new Jerusalem that they wanted to build.
“And that is what we are doing now – in the teeth of this pandemic.” Mr Johnson also dismissed claims his coronavirus infection earlier this year had left him with long- term health problems.
He said: “I have read a lot of nonsense recently about how my own bout of Covid has somehow robbed me of my mojo. Of course, this is self- evident drivel.”
He admitted it had shown him he was “too fat”, joking he would keep dieting “because you’ve got to search for the hero inside yourself in the hope that individual is considerably slimmer”.
Saying his Government was working “night and day” to repel the virus, he added: “We will succeed, just as this country has seen off every alien invader for the last thousand years.
“I know the people of this country are going to defeat this virus because I have seen how the country has responded before, with the energy and self- sacrifice of the NHS, the care workers, the armed forces – the spirit that was incarnated in the bounding, boundless devotion of [ 100- year- old fundraiser] Captain Tom Moore.”
The Prime Minister conceded that, at odds with his own instincts, he had been “forced” into restrictions on personal freedom, but said that there was “simply no reasonable alternative”.
Pledging to rebuild infrastructure and roll back big state intervention, he said two million more could become homeowners under plans for long- term, fixed rate mortgages.
He promised the biggest expansion of home ownership since the 1980s to “help turn generation rent into generation buy”.
Mr Johnson said Tories were “proud of this country’s culture and history and traditions” while Left- wingers wanted to “pull statues down, to rewrite the history of our country, to edit our national CV to make it look more politically correct”.
The premier added: “We aren’t embarrassed to sing old songs about how Britannia rules the waves – in fact we are even making sense of it with a concerted national shipbuilding strategy that will bring jobs to every part of the UK, especially in Scotland.”
He also pledged a “green industrial revolution” with every home in Britain powered by offshore wind farm electricity by 2030.