After meeting Queen Elizabeth II, Boris Johnson has officially become Britain’s Prime Minister and will consequently form a “cabinet for modern Britain” as outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May took a parting shot at opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, urging him to quit.
In his very first speech as the Prime Minister of Britain on the steps of Downing Street, Johnson offered an optimistic vision of Britain and his administration that will “crack” the Brexit conundrum and unleash the full potential of the country.
“The British people have had enough of waiting and the time has come to act to give strong leadership. My job is to serve you the people,” he said.
He also promised to address social problems and improve education, saying he will “take personal responsibility”, adding “the buck stops here.”
In a message to the EU, he also said that even if he wants to have a deal, he will also prepare for a potential no-deal fallout “not because we want that outcome, but because it is only common sense to prepare.”
“Yes, there will be difficulties … but if there is one thing that has really sapped the confidence of business is not the decisions we have taken, it is our refusal to take decisions.”
He ended his speech saying “I am standing before you today, to tell you the British people, that those critics are wrong – the doubters, the doomsters, the gloomsters are going to get it wrong again.”
May appeared at the Parliament for PMQs earlier today for the last time as the country’s premier, a session that lasted 63 minutes and appears to be the longest PMQs in the country’s history.
While the atmosphere remained cordial, she clashed with Corbyn for the last time, who suggested that she should join the opposition to stop “the “reckless” Johnson’s government that promised to lead the country out of the EU with or without a deal.
She ended the exchange by calling on Corbyn to resign, saying “perhaps I could just finish my exchange with him by saying this: as a party leader who has accepted when her time was up, perhaps the time is now for him to do the same?”