Boris Johnson has left 10 Downing Street for the final time. He began his final address as Prime Minister by saying, “this is it folks.”

He went on to add that in a few hours he would be at Balmoral Castle in the Scottish Highlands where he would be tendering his resignation to Queen Elizabeth II and that the “torch will finally be passed to a new Conservative leader.” 

Here are five key takeaways from his Downing Street speech.

Changed Rules

The outgoing Prime Minister, never one to feel remorse, said that his time as the leader of the Tories had “unexpectedly turned out to be a relay race with the rules changing halfway through.” It seems as though Johnson forgot the series of scandals and the mass resignation from nearly 60 members of his government where what led to him being forced to step down. 

Defining moments in his government

During his speech, Johnson rattled off a series of events which he believed defined his time as the Prime Minister. He said that one of them was “getting Brexit done”, his government’s roll out of the COVID-19 vaccine programme and their efforts in resisting Russia’s efforts to invade Ukraine. 

The night before his exit from Downing Street, Johnson took to his Twitter to pledge the UK’s support to his Ukrainian counterpart, President Vlodymyr Zelenksy. 

“It’s been a privilege to work with you @ZelenskyyUa, and I look forward to staying friends. The UK will continue to back Ukraine every step of the way, because we know that your security is our security, and your freedom is our freedom.

Slava Ukraini” 

Warning for Vladimir Putin

Johnson alluded to the incoming Prime Minister Liz Truss, saying that her government would help families combat the cost of living crisis while also making a comment about the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. 

“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,” he said.

Tory unity

The 58-year-old Tory leader said that he would offer the Liz Truss-led government his “fervent support” and that it was time for the “politics to be over folks” so that everybody could get behind the new Conservative Party Leader and her programme because ” that is what the people of this country want, that is what they need and that is what they deserve.”

Referring to his dog, Dilyn and the 10 Downing Street Cat Larry, Johnson said that if those two could get along, then the Conservative Party should also be able to present a united front. 

Potential return

Johnson referred to himself as a booster rocket that had fulfilled its purpose as well as a Roman farmer from history towards the end of his speech. 

 “On the subject of bouncing around and 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 reentering the atmosphere and splashing down invisibly in some remote and obscure corner of the Pacific. And like Cincinnatus I am returning to my plough,” he said. 

The soon-to-be-former Prime Minister was making a reference to the Roman farmer Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus who was called away from his lands to save the empire from an invasion before returning to his farm. Cincinnatus was called to Rome a second time to become a leader once more.