‘Hasta la vista, baby’ says PM as he bows out of Parliament
Boris Johnson appeared to leave the door slightly ajar as he exited after his final Prime Minister’s Questions
BORIS JOHNSON hinted at a return to the political frontline as he said farewell to his MPS with the phrase “Hasta la vista, baby”.
Appearing at Prime Minister’s Questions for the last time, he summed up his career as “mission largely accomplished – for now”. Mr Johnson also took what was perceived as a sideswipe at Rishi Sunak, his former chancellor, when he advised his eventual successor that it was important not to always listen to the Treasury.
He also urged his successor to cut taxes – something Mr Sunak has refused to do until inflation is brought down.
Mr Johnson received a standing ovation from almost every Conservative MP as he left the Chamber for the last time as Prime Minister.
But his predecessor Theresa May resolutely declined to join in – remaining seated and refusing to clap.
Although Mr Johnson’s successor will not be chosen until Sept 5, there will be no more Prime Minister’s Questions before then because of Parliament’s summer recess.
Addressing MPS, the premier said he was appearing at “probably… certainly” his last Prime Minister’s Questions.
The final question went to loyal supporter and former minister Sir Edward Leigh, who thanked him for the Covid vaccine rollout, getting Brexit done, supporting Ukraine and the levellingup agenda.
Replying, the Prime Minister said he would like to give some advice to his successor.
He said: “Number one: stay close to the Americans, stick up for the Ukrainians, stick up for freedom and democracy everywhere. Cut taxes and deregulate wherever you can to make this the greatest place to live and invest, which it is.
“I love the Treasury but remember that if we’d always listened to the Treasury we wouldn’t have built the M25 or the Channel Tunnel.”
Mr Johnson went on: “Focus on the road ahead but always remember to check the rear-view mirror ... and remember, above all, it’s not Twitter that counts, it’s the people that sent us here.”
The Prime Minister then proceeded to outline his achievements in office, saying: “The last few years have been the greatest privilege of my life and it’s true that I helped to get the biggest Tory majority for 40 years and a huge realignment in UK politics.
“We’ve transformed our democracy and restored our national independence.
“I’ve helped get this country through a pandemic and helped save another country from barbarism. And, frankly, that’s enough to be getting on with.
“Mission largely accomplished – for now.”
“I want to thank you Mr Speaker, I want to thank all the wonderful staff of the House of Commons, I want to thank all my friends and colleagues, I want to thank my friend opposite, Mr Speaker, I want to thank everybody here.
“And hasta la vista, baby.” Hasta la vista means “see you later” in Spanish and was made popular in the film Terminator 2.
Earlier, Sir Keir Starmer had asked what message the public should take from the fact that leadership contenders in the televised debates “can’t find a single decent thing” to say about the Government’s record.
In his final reply, Mr Johnson said “no one can name a single policy” that Labour had “apart from putting up taxes”.
He described Sir Keir as a “pointless plastic bollard” along the side of deserted motorway roadworks.
And he said the Government is “getting Brexit done, and fixing social care when they have no plan and no ideas of their own”.
He added: “We’ve restored our democracy and our independence, we got this country through Covid.”
A Labour spokesman said that even if the Prime Minister was thinking of making a return at some point, it would not happen.
“The Conservative Party made pretty clear that they don’t want Boris Johnson around, and the country has made clear it doesn’t want Boris Johnson around,” he said.
“So, whatever ambitions he might have, like a lot of his plans, will end up hitting the hard face of reality.”
‘Stay close to America, stick up for Ukraine ... for freedom and democracy everywhere, cut taxes, deregulate wherever you can’