Boris Johnson claimed that "they changed the rules halfway through" and referred to his time in office as a relay race during his farewell speech from Downing Street this morning.
The now ex-Prime Minister was the first ever to be proven to have broken the law whilst in office and eventually resigned after losing the support of the Conservative Party, following the Partygate scandal and Chris Fincher affair. His final speech took place outside what has been his home since 2019 ahead of Liz Truss taking over the role after both meet the Queen at Balmoral this afternoon, with him urging the Conservative Party and the country to get behind his successor.
Throughout the speech, Johnson referred to his "success" as Prime Minister and opened with: "This is it folks. Thank you everybody for coming out so early this morning.
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"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. 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."
Shouts from Whitehall could be heard throughout the outgoing-PM's speech, with protesters playing "Bye Bye Boris", a remix of Bye Bye Baby, from Kings Charles Street, which runs parallel to Downing Street. Johnson celebrated the success of the Coronavirus vaccine rollout during the speech and claimed that his Conservative Government supplied the weapons to Ukrainian Armed Forces fighting the Russian invasion, in "an act that could have changed the biggest European war for 80 years."
He then went onto say that the Government would be able to give people the cash they need by the energy crisis that "has been caused by Putin's war" and that his successor would "get people through this crisis." He continued his speech by comparing himself to a "booster rocket" re-enterting the atmosphere and landing somewhere in the Pacific Ocean as he resigned from his post, also saying to the Conservative Party if his dog Dilyn and Larry the Downing Street cat could put their difficulties behind him, so could the Conservative Party.
He finished: "Above all, thanks to you, to the British people, to the voters, for giving me the chance to serve, all of you who worked so tirelessly together to beat Covid, to put us where we are today. Together, we have laid foundations that will stand the test of time, whether by taking back control of our laws or putting in vital new infrastructure, great solid masonry on which we will continue to build together, paving the path of prosperity now and for future generations.
"I will be supporting Liz Truss and the new government every step of the way."
Ms Truss will travel to Balmoral to accept the role of Prime Minister from the Queen later on Tuesday. She is thought to be drawing up plans for a freeze in energy bills which could cost around £100 billion.
David Lammy, shadow foreign secretary, claimed that Mr Johnson was listing "imaginary achievements" in his resignation speech, and described him as "the worst Prime Minister of the modern era." Lammy tweeted: "Boris Johnson standing outside Downing Street listing imaginary achievements in a desperate attempt to claim a legacy is not going to fool anyone.
"He was exposed as a liar and a charlatan. Good riddance to the worst Prime Minister of the modern era."
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