Boris Johnson has made his final speech as Prime Minister before Liz Truss takes over.
Mr Johnson, who has been in post since July 2019, will be succeeded by his Foreign Secretary when she is appointed at Balmoral later today (September 6). Ms Truss defeated former Chancellor Rishi Sunak in the Conservative Party leadership election and was appointed party leader yesterday (September 5), after receiving 81,326 votes to Mr Sunak's 60,399
She will become the United Kingdom's 56th Prime Minister and its third female leader after winning the protracted and spiky leadership battle against her former cabinet colleague. Ms Truss was widely expected to win, having garnered favour among the party membership for her perceived adaptability and an economic approach built around tax cuts.
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Mr Johnson bid farewell to his role on Tuesday morning, addressing a crowd outside 10 Downing Street, before he hands the keys to Ms Truss. The two will travel to Balmoral today for the Queen to appoint Ms Truss as Prime Minister.
In the speech, Mr Johnson mentioned the roll out of Covid-19 vaccines, 'getting Brexit done' and supply of weapons to Ukrainian armed forces as he spoke about his tenure. Tory MPs gathered to hear Mr Johnson speak and cheered as he finished his address, before he and wife Carrie Johnson left in a Range Rover.
Every word Boris Johnson said in his final speech as Prime Minister
"Well, this is it, folks. Thank you everybody for coming out so early this morning.
"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 battle will be handed over in what has unexpectedly turned out to be a relay race.
"They changed the rules halfway through, but nevermind that now. "And through that lacquered black door, a new prime minister will shortly go to meet a fantastic group of public servants - the people who got Brexit done, the people who delivered the fastest vaccine rollout in Europe and never forget 70 per cent of the entire population got a dose within six months faster than any comparable country.
"That is Government for you. That's this Conservative Government.
"People who organised those early supplies of weapons to the heroic Ukrainian armed forces and action that may very well have helped change the course of the biggest European war for 80 years. Because of the speed and urgency of what you did, everybody involved in this government, to get this economy moving again from July last year in spite of all the opposition, all the naysayers, we have and will continue to have that economic strength to give people the cash they need to get through this energy crisis that has been caused by Putin's vicious war.
"And I know that Liz Truss, and this compassionate Conservative Government will do everything we can to get people through this crisis, and this country will endure it and we will win. And if Putin thinks that he can succeed by blackmailing or bullying the British people, then he is utterly deluded.
"And the reason we will have those funds now and in the future is because we Conservatives understand the vital symmetry between government action and free market capitalist private sector enterprise. We're delivering on those huge manifesto commitments - making streets safer, neighbourhood crime down 38 per cent in the last three years, 13,790 more police on the streets, building more hospitals and yes, we will have 50,000 more nurses by the end of the decade and 44 hospitals by the end of, 50,000 by the end of this Parliament, I should say, 40 new hospitals by the end of the decade.
"Putting record funding into our schools and into teachers' pay, giving everybody overreaching a lifetime skills guarantee so they can keep upskilling throughout their lives. Three new high speed rail lines, three, including Northern Powerhouse rail, colossal road proud programmes from the pen lines to call the rollout of gigabit broadband up over the last three years.
"I'm proud to say, since you were kind enough to elect me, from 7% of our country premises hadn't gigabit broadband to 70% today. And we of course (are) providing the short and the long term solutions for our energy needs, and not just using more of our own domestic hydrocarbons, but going up by 2030 to 50 gigawatts of wind power - that is half this country's energy electricity needs from offshore wind alone.
"A new nuclear reactor every year and looking at what is happening in this country - the changes that are taking place, that is why private sector investment is flooding and more private sector, more venture capital investment than China itself. More billion pound tech companies sprouting here in the UK, than in France, Germany and Israel combined.
"And as a result, unemployment, as I leave office, unemployment is down to lows not seen since I was about 10 years old and bouncing around on a space hopper, my friends. On the subject of bouncing around in future careers - let me say that I am now like one of those booster rockets that has fulfilled its function and I will now be gently re-entering the atmosphere and splashing down invisibly in some remote and obscure corner of the Pacific.
"And like Cincinnatus, I am returning to my plough. And I will be offering this government nothing but the most fervent support.
"I'll tell you why. This is a tough time for the economy.
"This is a tough time for families up and down the country. We can and we will get through it, we will come out stronger the other side.
"But I say to my fellow Conservatives, it's time for politics to be over folks. 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 in this country want.
"That's what they need. And that's what they deserve.
"I'm proud to have discharged the promises I made to my party when you were kind enough to choose me, winning the biggest majority since 1987. The biggest share of the vote since 1979.
"Delivering Brexit, delivering our manifesto committees including by the way, including social care, reforming social care, helping people up and down the country, ensuring that Britain is once again standing tall in the world. Speaking with clarity and authority from Ukraine to the orcas pact with America and Australia, because we are one whole and entire United Kingdom, whose diplomat security services and armed forces are so globally admired.
"And by the way, as I believe, as I leave, I believe our union is so strong that those who want to break it up, they'll keep trying, but they will never, ever succeed. Thank you to everybody by me in this building. Thank you to all of you in government.
"And thank you to everyone who has helped look after me and my family over the last three years including Dilyn, the dog, and I just say to my party, if Dilyn and Larry can put behind them their occasional difficulties, and so can the Conservative Party.
"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. And I will be supporting this trust and the new government every step of the way.
"Thank you all very much. Thank you. Goodbye. Thank you."
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