Bravura Boris’s blast at plotters
In what could be his final Commons appearance as PM, he takes aim at ‘The Revengers’ – and shows Tory MPs what they’ll miss
BORIS Johnson delivered a barnstorming defence of his record in office last night, saying his Government fought some of the ‘hardest yards’ in modern political history.
In a triumphant address that could be his final Commons appearance as Prime Minister, he told how he had got the ‘big calls right’ despite having to take some of the ‘bleakest decisions since the war’.
Mr Johnson ran through his greatest hits in office – from the Covid vaccination programme to delivering Brexit – as he moved a motion of confidence in his government.
He told MPs: ‘We got Brexit done and though the rejoiners and the revengers were left plotting and planning and biding their time – and I’ll have more to say about the events of the last few weeks and months in due course – we delivered on every single one of our promises.’
On Covid, Mr Johnson said the Government ‘never gave up through wave after wave’ – despite the virus’s spread being ‘appallingly difficult to manage’.
And he suggested he is ‘more popular on the streets of Kyiv right now than I am in Kensington’.
Mr Johnson said this would be because of the UK’s decision to act early to send Ukraine weapons to counter the Russian invasion.
Tory backbencher Michael Fabricant intervened to say: ‘I personally think that our party is making the same mistake that the Labour Party made when they knifed Tony Blair.
‘But may I say to my honourable friend, is he aware that the excess death rates in Europe show that thanks to his early intervention with the vaccine, fewer people died in the United Kingdom than the majority of other European countries?
‘And thanks to my right honourable friend’s intervention, Kyiv is still a part of Ukraine and not Russia?’ And ex-Labour MP Kate Hoey wrote on
Twitter: ‘Wonder how many of those Tory MPs who stabbed Boris Johnson in the back are silently reflecting on whether they have made a big mistake!’
Concluding his remarks, Mr Johnson said: ‘This Government has fought some of the hardest yards in modern political history, we’ve had to take some of the bleakest decisions since the war and I believe we got the big calls right.
‘And at the end of three years this country is visibly using its new-found independence to turbocharge our natural advantages as the best place in the world not just to live and to invest, but to bring up a family.
‘And with a new and incontrovertible spirit of global leadership, I believe we can look to the future with a rocksolid confidence not just in what this Government has done, but in what it will do and will continue to do.’ But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer
The latest parade of pretenders’
by saying: ‘The delusion is never ending. What a relief for the country that they finally got round to sacking him.
‘And in many ways the chaos of the last fortnight is familiar. The third Tory leadership contest in six years. The latest bumper summer for graphic designers and brand managers. The latest parade of pretenders promising unfunded tax cuts.
‘The latest set of ministerial jobs handed out on a wink and a shake in return for a nomination. And TV debates so embarrassing that even the contestants are pulling out.’
Sir Keir added: ‘ Every other year they switch out a failed prime minister.’
The Government was last night set to win the confidence motion easily.