Boris Johnson has predicted that the Conservative Party will recover from its recent troubles – as long as it sticks to the policy agenda he set out in office. The former prime minister urged supporters to get behind his policy programme — of levelling up and exploiting the UK’s “Brexit freedoms” — to deliver victory at the next general election.
He was speaking at the Carlton Club where he was unveiling a portrait of himself in line with the club’s tradition of commissioning portraits of former Conservative premiers. He made no mention of his unceremonious ejection from No 10, according to extracts released by his office, but delivered a typically upbeat address extolling the achievements of his time in office.
He pointed to his government’s record in delivering Brexit and rolling out the Covid vaccine quicker than other countries. “When I talk to people in the Far East, in the US, in the Gulf, they are sometimes confused about the way in which the UK presents itself to the outside world because they look at the facts,” he said. "They see a country that had the audacity to uphold the will of the people (to) come out of the EU.
