It is half past twelve on Thursday July 7, and the podium has just been set up in front of 10 Downing Street. Boris Johnson advances nimbly, in his characteristic gait – his neck tucked into his shoulders, a look of defiance in his eyes. It has already been almost three hours since the fall of the British Prime Minister was announced by the national media, all awaiting confirmation from him. In five minutes watch in hand, the leader, who will have resisted until the end despite dozens of departures within his government, runs. “It is now clear that the Conservative parliamentary group wants a new leader. (…) I will remain in office until a new leader is in place. »
The tone is combative but bitter, full of suppressed anger against his own political family. Mr Johnson, 58, of whom exactly 1,77 days was spent in Downing Street, is keen to say ” thank you “ to “millions of people who voted for us in 2019 [lors des élections générales] » and for the“incredible mandate” which they entrusted to him. He adds – rare personal note – how great he is ” sad ” to have to give up “to the best job in the world” and he denounces the behavior “eccentric” elected Tories who pushed him to the start, yielding to a herd instinct.
In front of him, the television cameras, Downing Street employees who came to support him, as did around thirty Conservative MPs – the last square of the faithful – and Carrie Johnson, his young wife, with their little girl Romy, barely a year old , in a baby carrier. The applause is brief, the emotion restrained. The scene has nothing to do with the departure of Theresa May, three years earlier: the leader (2016-2019) had shed a tear when saying her farewells. She too was pushed out by her elected Conservatives, including a certain … Boris Johnson.
“Let him leave as soon as possible”
It is in any case the relief which dominated, Thursday, in the ranks of the Conservative Party and among political columnists. After weeks and months of scandals, Boris Johnson’s fall was chaotic and without panache, but the institutional crisis seems to have been avoided, the leader finally coming to terms with his fate and admitting to having lost the confidence of his party. However, many concerns remain, some fear that Mr. Johnson clings too long to his post of interim prime minister, and call for his departure – effective – as soon as possible.
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