Boris Johnson has delivered his resignation speech on the steps of 10 Downing Street.
The Prime Minister said: “I want you to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the world – but them’s the breaks.”
He also assured people that ‘our future together is golden’.
While delivering his speech, nearby protesters blasted Bye Bye Baby by the Bay City Rollers.
There were loud boos and jeers when Mr Johnson mentioned the NHS.
PM Boris Johnson delivering his resignation speech today. Credit: Sky News
He said that he was ‘immensely proud of the achievements of this government’, referring to Brexit, the war in Ukraine, and the pandemic.
It’s not yet known when he will officially leave Downing Street, as the process begins to appoint a new leader.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCklg0Flsr8
The PM had faced increasing pressure to step down from his position in recent weeks amid several scandals, from Partygate to Pincher.
A slew of resignations from across government have flooded in this week, with 59 MPs quitting in the last two days, including his trusted Chancellor Rishi Sunak.
Boris Johnson’s resignation speech in full
“It is clearly now the will of the Parliamentary Conservative Party that there should be a new leader of that party and therefore a new PM and I’ve agreed with SIr Graham Brady, the chairman of our backbench MPs that process of choosing that leader should begin now. The timetable will announced next week. I have today appointed a cabinet to serve, as I will, until a new leader is in place.
“I want to say to the millions of people who voted for us in 2019, many of them voting Conservative for the first time, thankyou for that incredible mandate, the biggest Conservative mandate since 1987, the biggest share of a vote since 1979.
“The reason I have fought so hard in the last few days to continue to deliver that mandate in person is not just because I wanted to do so but because I thought it was my job, my duty, my obligation to you to continue to do what we promised in 2019. Of course, I am immensely proud of our achievements in government. From getting Brexit done to settling our relations with the continent for half a century, reclaiming the power for this country to make its own laws in Parliament, getting us all through the pandemic, delivering the fastest vaccine rollout in Europe, the fastest exit from lockdown and in the last few months standing up to Putin’s aggression in Ukraine.
“Let me say now to the people of Ukraine, we in the UK will continue to back your fight for freedom for as long as it takes, at the same time in this country we’ve been pushing forward a vast programme for infrastructure and skills, technology, the biggest in a century because if I have one insight into human beings it’s the genius, talent and enthusiasm and imagination are evenly distributed through the population but opportunity is not and that’s why we must keep levelling up, keep unleashing the potential of every part of the UK. If we can do that we will be the most prosperous in Europe.
Boris Johnson has delivered his resignation speech
“I have been trying to tell my colleagues it would be eccentric to change governments when we’re delivering so much and have such a vast mandate and actually only a handful of points behind in the polls when we’re midterm and after quite a few months of relentless sledging and when the economic scene is so difficult domestically and internationally. I regret not being successful in those arguments and of course it’s painful not to see through so many ideas and projects myself.
“As we’ve seen at Westminster the herd instinct is powerful and when the herd moves, it moves. My friends in politics, no-one is remotely indispensable. Our brilliant and Darwinian system will produce another leader equally committed to taking us through tough times not just helping families to get through it but changing and improving the way we do things, cutting the burdens on businesses and yes, cutting taxes because that’s the way to generate the growth and income we need to pay for great public services.
“To that new leader, whoever he or she may be, I say that I will give you as much support as I can. To you, the British public, I know there will be many people who will be relieved and quite a few disappointed, I want you to know how sad I am to be giving up the best job in the world but them’s the breaks.
“I want to thank Carrie, our children and all the members of my family who have had to put up with so much for so long. I want to thank the fearless British civil service for all the help and support you’ve given our police and our NHS who at critical moments helped to extend my own period in office as well as our armed services and our agencies that I so admire around the world and our Conservative members and supporters whose selfless campaigners makes our democracy possible.
“I want to thank the wonderful staff here at Number 10 and Chequers and our prop force detectives, the one group who never level. Above all, I want to thank you, the British public for the immense privilege you have given me. I want you to know that from now on until the new Prime Minister is in place, your interests will be served and the government of the country will be carried on.
“Being Prime Minister is an education in itself. I’ve travelled to every part of the UK and in addition to the beauty of our natural world I’ve found so many people possessed of such boundless British originality and so willing to tackle old problems in new ways, even if things can sometimes seem dark now our future together is golden. Thankyou very much.”
Featured image: Sky News
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‘Dazzling’ Victorian silver sculpture goes on public display in Greater Manchester after fears it was lost
Emily Sergeant
A long-lost masterpiece of Victorian silverwork has been saved and is now on display to the public in Greater Manchester.
Anyone taking a trip over to the National Trust’s historic Dunham Massey property, on the border of Greater Manchester into Cheshire, this summer will get to see the ‘dazzling’ sculpture called Stags in Bradgate Park – which was commissioned by a former owner in a defiant gesture to the society that shunned him.
The dramatic sculpture of two rutting Red Deer stags, commissioned in 1855 by George Harry Grey, 7th Earl of Stamford, was said to be an ‘act of love and rebellion’.
It also serves as a symbol of ‘locking horns’ with the society that ostracised him over his marriage to a woman considered ‘beneath him’.
“This isn’t just silver – it’s a story,” says James Rothwell, who is the National Trust‘s curator for decorative arts.
“A story of a man who fell in love with a woman that society deemed unworthy. When the Earl married Catherine Cox, whose colourful past was said to have included performing in a circus, Victorian high society was scandalised. Even Queen Victoria shunned the couple at the opera and local gentry at the horse races in Cheshire turned their backs on them.”
Modelled by Alfred Brown and crafted by royal goldsmiths Hunt & Roskell, Stags in Bradgate Park is a meticulously-detailed depiction of nature, and was considered a ‘sensation’ in its day.
Showing the rutting deer positioned on a rocky outcrop with gnarled hollow oaks, it graced the pages of the Illustrated London News, was exhibited at the London International Exhibition of 1862, and at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1867 – both of which were events that drew millions of visitors.
A ‘dazzling’ Victorian silver sculpture has gone on public display in Greater Manchester / Credit: Joe Wainwright | James Dobson (via Supplied)
The silver centrepiece was the celebrity art of its time, paraded through streets and admired by the public like no other.
Gradually over the years, some of the Earl of Stamford’s silver collection has been re-acquired for Dunham Massey, and this particular world-renowned sculpture, thought to be lost for decades and feared to have been melted down, has miraculously survived with its ‘dramatic’ central component being all that is left.
“The sculpture is not only a technical marvel, with its lifelike depiction of Bradgate Park’s rugged landscape and wildlife, but also a dramatic human story key to the history of Dunham Massey,” added Emma Campagnaro, who is the Property Curator at Dunham Massey.
“It speaks of nature, of craftsmanship, and of a couple who chose each other over status and what others thought of them.”
The sculpture has now gone on display at Dunham Massey from Thursday 26 June.
Featured Image – James Dobson (via Supplied)
News
Lewis Capaldi announces MASSIVE comeback gig in Manchester this year
Thomas Melia
Everyone’s favourite Scottish ballad-maker, Lewis Capaldi, is heading out on tour across the UK, including a massive Manchester date.
Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi is ready to tug at our heartstrings again right in front of our eyes as he announces a new UK arena tour.
This huge announcement comes right after his surprise set at the UK’s biggest music event of the year, Glastonbury, where he made a heroic return to the Pyramid Stage just two years after being forced to pull out.
Capaldi is known for writing some of the most notable and emotive hits of the late 2010s and early 2020s, including a long list of anthems such as ‘Someone You Loved’, ‘Bruises’ and ‘Before You Go’.
His monster of a hit ‘Someone You Loved’ has surpassed 3.9 billion views and is the UK’s most-streamed song of all time, so it is safe to say that his presence has been well and truly missed.
To many fans’ delight, the singer has stepped back into the spotlight and is ready to sing his heart out live at a variety of arenas across the UK, including Co-op Live right here in Manchester.
Now, in a post on his official Instagram account announcing this upcoming UK and Ireland arena tour, it’s good to see the Scottish powerhouse hasn’t lost his wit and charm as he jokes, “About time I got back to work.”
These shows are set to be in high demand as the singer has also revealed these upcoming dates, “Will be my only shows in the UK, Ireland or Europe this year! Would love to see ya there.”
On the back of his glorious Glasto return, Capaldi has dropped a huge heart-wrencher titled ‘Survive’ which offers more insight into the struggles and challenges the singer has been facing.
There is no confirmation of whether this new single marks the launch of a bigger project or not, but we can’t wait to scream his hits at the top of our lungs, regardless of when he pays Manchester a visit later this year.
Daisy Jackson -
7th July 2022 
