Prime Minister Boris Johnson has insisted the “golden rule” is to “focus on what we are doing”, after revealing he is planning to be in office into the 2030s. It comes as pressure has been mounting on the PM following the stinging by-election defeats in Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton.
Mr Johnson said during a trip to Rwanda this weekend that he is “thinking actively” about fighting the next two general elections to become the longest-serving post-war leader. Asked at the G7 summit in Germany today (Sunday) if his aspirations are delusional, he said: “What I’m saying is this is a Government that is getting on with delivering for the people of this country and we’ve got a huge amount to do.”
He said the “golden rule” is to “focus on what we are doing”. This includes addressing the cost of living, the “massive” plan for a stronger economy, and “making sure that the UK continues to offer the kind of leadership around the world that I know our people want”.
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Mr Johnson has urged Tory MPs plotting to oust him not to focus on the issues he has “stuffed up”, after his authority was further diminished by a Cabinet resignation. Oliver Dowden stood down as Tory party co-chairman in the wake of the by-election defeats, saying he and Conservative supporters are “distressed and disappointed by recent events” and telling the Prime Minister that “someone must take responsibility”.
But the PM set his sights on being in office in the “mid 2030s”, in a run that would see him outlast Margaret Thatcher’s reign. Asked by journalists at the British high commissioner’s residence in Kigali if he would lead his party into the next election, he said: “Will I win? Yes.”
In buoyant mood, the Prime Minister added: “At the moment I’m actively thinking about the third term and what could happen then, but I will review that when I get to it.”
In the by-election in the Devon constituency of Tiverton and Honiton, a dramatic swing of almost 30 per cent from the Conservatives saw their 24,000 majority overturned by the Liberal Democrats. In West Yorkshire, Labour seized back Wakefield with a majority of 4,925 on a swing of 12.7 per cent from the Tories.
Mr Johnson told reporters at the G7 summit: “In the immediate future we’ve got to get people through the current global inflationary pressures, the post-Covid, Ukraine-exacerbated inflationary pressures that people have got, the energy price spikes that we have got. But at the same time we have got a massive agenda of reform and improvement, a plan for a stronger economy, whereby we have to reform our energy markets, our housing markets, the way our transport networks run, our public sector – we’ve got to cut the cost of Government.
“We’ve got to make sure we grow our economy by reducing the burden of taxation on business and on families and have better regulation.”
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