Towards the end, after a long and often grueling session that mostly illuminated just how uncomfortable Johnson’s legacy was, Hoyle must have thought it might be better to pull the plug at 12.30. But then, in his final reply, to Sir Edward Leigh, Johnson suddenly shifted gears and said something interesting. It was the political equivalent of his last will and testament and deserves to be reproduced in full. He said: I want to use the last few seconds to give some advice to my successor, whoever he or she may be. Number one: Stay close to the Americans, support the Ukrainians, support freedom and democracy everywhere. Cut taxes and deregulate where you can to make this the best place to live and invest, as it is. I love the Treasury but remember if we always listened to the Treasury we wouldn’t have built the M25 or the Channel Tunnel. Focus on the road ahead, but always remember to check the mirror. And remember, above all, it’s not Twitter that counts, it’s the people who sent us here. The last few years have been the greatest privilege of my life and it is true that I have helped deliver the biggest Tory majority for 40 years and a huge reshuffle of UK politics. We transformed our politics and restored our national independence. We helped – I helped – get this country through a pandemic and we helped save another country from brutality. And, frankly, that’s enough to go on. Mission accomplished to a large extent – for now. I want to thank you, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank all the wonderful staff in the House of Commons, I want to thank all my friends and colleagues, I want to thank my friend opposite, I want to thank everyone here, and hasta la vista, baby me, thank you Johnson shows little interest in introspection, and the speech he gave on Monday afternoon at the start of the confidence motion in the government was mostly a trite and unreliable list of boasts. Wednesday afternoon’s statement was much more telling, for three reasons. First, it’s a useful guide to what Johnson’s political beliefs actually are: Atlanticism, low taxes and deregulation – conventional conservatism, in other words, leavened with support for big spending projects of the kind the Treasury dislikes. Leveling up wasn’t mentioned, nor was the environment. But his advice to politicians (to focus on the future and not take Twitter too seriously) was sound. Second, although Johnson never publicly acknowledged that he was the cause of his own downfall, there was a hint here that his achievements were limited. Listening to his speech on Monday, you would assume that his administration was the most successful ever. But here it all boiled down to a big election win, Brexit, the passing of Covid and Ukraine. “That’s enough to keep me going,” he added, implying there’s a lot left undone. And that leads to the third, and most interesting, feature of his dignity: the very strong hint that he wants to make a comeback. “Mission is largely accomplished – for now,” he said. And he finished with a line from Terminator 2 that usually translates as “See you later.” Another famous line from the same movie is “I’ll be back”. The Tories’ applause for Johnson at the end seemed quite genuine, according to colleagues watching from the gallery. But that may just be a function of good manners, as much as anything else, and doesn’t mean they want it to stay. Keir Starmer has done a good job of explaining what a mess Johnson has left his party in, and there is absolutely no sign that voters would welcome a second Johnson prime ministership. Britain has not seen an outgoing Prime Minister return to Downing Street after a spell out of power for nearly 50 years since Harold Wilson in 1974. But like his near-US counterpart Donald Trump, Johnson is clearly considering the possibility of come back one day. It might not be the last PMQs after all.
