Boris Johnson has pledged loyalty to his successor Liz Truss in a valedictory speech tinged with a lingering bitterness over his downfall.
The outgoing prime minister hinted that he intends to fade quietly into the background for now, comparing himself to Cincinnatus, a Roman statesman who – according to legend – returned to his farm after triumphing in battle.
He said he is like “one of those booster rockets that has fulfilled its function”, and will now be “gently re-entering the atmosphere and splashing down invisibly in some remote and obscure corner of the Pacific”.
I say to my fellow Conservatives, it’s time for politics to be over, folks— Boris Johnson
“Like Cincinnatus, I am returning to my plough and I will be offering this Government nothing but the most fervent support,” he added.
Mr Johnson’s reference to the Roman statesman harks back to comments he made during his time as London mayor about his potential aspirations to serve as PM.
In 2008, he is said to have remarked: “Were I to be called, like Cincinnatus from my plough, obviously it would be a huge privilege to serve.
“But you may have a long time to wait.”
And in 2009, he told the Evening Standard: “If, like Cincinnatus, I were to be called from my plough, then obviously it would be wrong of me not to help out.”
In his final speech from No 10 as PM, Mr Johnson called for the Tory Party to unite to back his successor.
“I say to my fellow Conservatives, it’s time for politics to be over, folks,” he said.
“It’s time for us all to get behind Liz Truss and her team, and her programme, and deliver for the people of this country. Because that is what the people of this country want. That’s what they need. And that’s what they deserve.”
But there remained a distinct sense of bitterness about how his departure came about.
“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,” he said.
“The baton will be handed over in what has unexpectedly turned out to be a relay race. They changed the rules halfway through, but never mind that now.”
It was a “clear dig” at the MPs who ousted him, according to Will Walden, Mr Johnson’s director of communications when he was mayor of London.
“It wasn’t particularly dignified, reflective or statesmanlike and at the beginning it was pretty bitter,” Mr Walden told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme.
“It’s a clear dig, a parting shot, that the parliamentary party are out of touch and that they’ve got the decision wrong”.
Mr Walden also criticised the speech for lacking any recognition that Mr Johnson’s departure from No 10 “can probably be laid almost exclusively at his behaviour and the way that he has responded to crises”.
Mr Johnson used his speech to celebrate the milestones from his time in office, pointing to the Government’s record on Brexit, supporting Ukraine and the Covid-19 vaccine rollout.
He also said unemployment is down to lows not seen since he was “bouncing around on a space hopper” at the age of 10.
Making reference to the colourful similes that peppered Mr Johnson’s speech, former Tory leader Lord Hague described the outgoing PM as “a rocket booster on which the guidance system failed”.
He told Times Radio: “It’s amusing, you know, that he’s a booster – he’s a rocket booster that is going to fall into the Pacific – but it’s tragic, really, that he was a rocket booster on which the guidance system failed.
“And that has really been a problem – that he was this great soaring thing in politics, an extraordinary thing, which unnecessarily went wrong.
“And that is a tragedy for the country and the Conservative Party and for him and I don’t think however he phrases it can cover up that fact.”
Bookending his speech with the remark “This is it folks” and a pledge to support the Truss government “every step of the way”, Mr Johnson certainly seemed to imply he intends to take a back seat for a while.
Mr Walden said he does not believe Mr Johnson will come back and serve in frontline politics, mainly because “he needs to earn some money and he needs to move on”.
But it remains to be seen whether the boy who dreamed of being world king can resist the bright lights of No 10.
After all, Cincinnatus is said by some to have been recalled from his plough to serve for a second time. A subtle hint from the outgoing PM, perhaps?
