Boris Johnson has claimed voters are tired of hearing about what “I’m alleged to have done wrong”. On what lessons he will take from Friday's damaging by-election results, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “I draw the conclusion the voters are heartily sick of hearing about me and the things I’m alleged to have done wrong.
“What they want to hear is what we’re doing for them. And what I’m setting out for you, or trying to set out, is the ambitions we have (for) the country.”
Mr Johnson said the only argument of “substance” for a change of direction he has heard from his critics is for the UK to return to the EU single market.
Put to him that his critics are trying to get on to the 1922 Committee, which could trigger a change in rules sparking a fresh confidence vote in his leadership, the Prime Minister said: “I would say to them, you know, with great respect – and I love all these people – but don’t forget that the only actual argument that I’ve heard some of my critics make of substance about the change of direction they’d like to see is for us to go back into the EU single market.
“That’s literally the only manifesto point that I’ve seen.”
On the suggestion that criticism from people he has worked with, including his former ethics chief Lord Geidt, has been personal, Mr Johnson said: “I understand what you’re saying… but I have to, as a leader, you have to try to distinguish between the criticism that really matters and the criticism that doesn’t.”
