Three years ago a confident Boris Johnson bounded into Downing Street vowing to transform the country.
This week he limps from office a deflated figure who was brought down by his partying, lies and hubris.
Johnson claims he is “extremely proud” of his record. But how much did he achieve? And at what price?
All Prime Ministers are judged on whether they left the country in a better or worse state.
And by this measure Johnson’s record is a damning one.
Here is our own audit on what Britain’s 55th Prime Minister really achieved...
Houses/travel 1/5
Johnson’s promise of a housebuilding revolution disintegrated when the Tories abandoned their planning reforms.
Earlier this year, the outgoing Prime Minister admitted the Government would not meet his target of building 300,000 homes a year by 2025.
Johnson also failed to deliver his “bus back better” pledge to improve bus services.
Hundreds of bus routes have been cut after the Treasury slashed the extra post-Covid funding from £3billion to £1.4billion.
His Government’s rail plan was also criticised after it scrapped the eastern leg of HS2 from Birmingham to Leeds.
A new line from Liverpool to Leeds via Bradford was also downgraded.
Meanwhile, Avanti has cut services from Manchester to London.
Brexit 3/5
Johnson’s promise to Get Brexit Done helped him win an 80-strong majority in the 2019 general election. Britain did finally leave the European Union.
But Brexit is far from done.
The Government is still seeking to overturn parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol which, contrary to the promise made by Johnson, placed a border down the Irish Sea.
There are also calls for the trade deal with Brussels to be reviewed.
Since Brexit exports to the EU have fallen by 14 per cent, while the Office for Budget Responsibility has said that the impact of Brexit has been worse than the pandemic, causing a four per cent fall in the country’s wealth.
Levelling up 2/5
Levelling up was supposed to have been Johnson’s flagship policy.
So far only £1.7billion has been spent – with much of the money allocated to Conservative-voting areas.
On many metrics, funding for less well-off areas has declined.
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The National Audit Office found that between 2017-19 and 2020-21 average per pupil funding in the most deprived fifth of schools fell in real terms by 1.2 per cent to £5,177 while funding in the fifth least deprived schools rose by 2.9 per cent.
The budget for Public Health England in 2021-22 is 24 per cent – £1billion – lower in real terms than in 2015-16 and per capita transport spending in 2019-20 was £882 in London, compared to £315 in the North East and £309 in Yorkshire and Humber.
Covid pandemic 2/5
The Government’s handling of the pandemic is a mixed picture.
Johnson was praised for the speed of the vaccine rollout and the furlough scheme.
But against these successes must be set the delay in placing the country into the lockdown and the failure to protect residents in care homes.
More than 200,000 people have so far died from the virus, including more than 20,000 in care homes.
Billions of pounds was wasted on faulty PPE, which saw lucrative contracts go to Tory cronies and donors, and a controversial test and trace system.
Public spending 1/5
After winning the 2019 election Johnson said his priority was the NHS.
Three years on, a record 6.7million people are on waiting lists in England. Ambulance waiting times were the worst on record in July this year.
Although Covid is partly to blame, the majority of the problems facing the health service can be traced to years of under-funding by the Tories.
Johnson’s pledge to build 40 new hospitals is under investigation by the National Audit Office after it emerged only five of the schemes will result in new buildings.
Nine out of 10 schools in England need major repairs.
And research found 90 per cent of NHS dentists are not taking new patients.
The number of police officers remains 8,000 fewer than when the Tories came to power in 2010.
Ukraine war - 4/5
Even Johnson’s fiercest critics accept he has been one of Ukraine ’s most unwavering allies since the country’s deadly invasion by Russia.
The UK is second only to the US in its military and financial support for the war-ravaged nation.
But Britain has taken in relatively few Ukrainian refugees – 86,000.
This is compared with the 1.2million who have found a temporary home in Poland, 867,000 in Germany, 382,000 in the Czech Republic and 141,000 in Italy.
There are also questions over Johnson’s failure as a former Foreign Secretary to confront and prepare for Vladimir Putin ’s aggression.
Decency 0/5
When Johnson came to power in 2019 he stood on the steps of Downing Street and promised to restore trust in democracy.
Few other Prime Ministers have done more to erode faith in our democratic institutions.
He set the tone when he illegally suspended Parliament but it was his own conduct which brought disgrace on his office.
He stands accused of repeatedly lying to Parliament, not least by denying to MPs there had been illegal parties in No10 during the pandemic.
He became the first serving Prime Minister to be given a police fine after he broke lockdown rules.
He tried to rig the rules to prevent his ally Owen Paterson from being suspended from the Commons and he was rapped for failing to declare how a Tory donor funded the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat.
Economy 1/5
Johnson came to office promising to create a high wage, high-skilled economy – but he leaves with the Bank of England forecasting a year-long recession and Britain witnessing the biggest fall in living standards since 1956.
The UK is predicted to have the lowest growth of any G20 nation apart from Russia.
Tax burdens are at the highest level since the 1940s due to the 15 new tax rises that have been introduced since 2019.
Food, fuel and energy costs have all increased and inflation is at its highest level in four decades.
Far from spreading wealth, the number of children in poverty has risen from 27 per cent when Labour left power in 2010 to 31 per cent– 4.3million children.
The number of pensioners in poverty has risen from 13% in 2011 to 18 per cent.
