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Tag: Boris Johnson

  • Boris Johnson – 2022 Comments at Opening of CHOGM in Kigali

    Boris Johnson – 2022 Comments at Opening of CHOGM in Kigali

    The comments made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, in Kigali on 24 June 2022.

    Your Royal Highness, President Kagame, Madam Secretary General, Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I’m honoured to perform the final duty of the United Kingdom as Chair-in-Office of the Commonwealth and hand over the baton to President Kagame, and wish him every success as Chair of our unique association, encompassing 54 countries and a third of humanity.

    One of the newest members is now at the helm, and more nations are seeking to join, which tells you everything about the health and vitality of our Commonwealth, because for all the differences between us, we are united by an invisible thread of shared values, history and friendship.

    The Head of the Commonwealth, Her Majesty the Queen, incarnates everything that brings us together and it’s fitting that in the year of her Platinum Jubilee, the association she cherishes should be gathering in the continent where she became Queen.

    When the UK became your Chair-in-Office in 2018, the word “Covid” had not been invented many of us had no idea what a “coronavirus” was, and nobody could have known that the worst pandemic for a century would soon claim millions of lives.

    The British government put together the partnership between Oxford University and AstraZeneca that produced the world’s most popular vaccine, and during our time as Chair-in-Office, the UK supported the delivery of more than 1.4 billion doses of Covid vaccines to Commonwealth countries.

    The pandemic posed a common threat to all humanity and the same is true of catastrophic climate change.

    No-one understands this better than our Commonwealth friends in the Caribbean, the Pacific and the Indian Ocean who can see the incoming tides surging ever higher up their beaches, threatening to inundate their villages and towns, and, in time, the entire land mass of some island states.

    For them, the baleful effects of climate change are not vague or theoretical, but already happening before their eyes.

    When we hosted COP26 in Glasgow last November, it was these fellow Commonwealth leaders who spoke with greatest urgency and authority about the perils of quilting the earth with greenhouse gases.

    And we in the developed world have an obligation to help our friends to cope with a danger they had no hand in causing, and during the UK’s time as Chair-in-Office, the Commonwealth Finance Access Hub mobilised over $38 million for the most vulnerable members, but of course we must press on and do more.

    And if I could imagine a silver bullet that would solve an array of problems and transform countless lives, it would be to give every girl in the world the chance to go to school.

    At the last CHOGM in London in 2018, the UK announced £212 million for the Girls’ Education Challenge, and I’m delighted to say that this initiative is now at work in 11 Commonwealth countries, ensuring that girls are able to gain at least 12 years of quality education.

    We need to empower them to play their full part in the economy when they leave school, so the UK is funding the “She Trades” Commonwealth programme, which has already helped over 3,500 women-owned businesses to become more competitive and generate more than £32 million of sales.

    And if there is anyone who doubts the ability of the Commonwealth to speak with one voice, it was in 2020 that the UK delivered the first ever Joint Statement by all 54 Commonwealth members before the Human Rights Council in Geneva, recalling – and I quote – our “proud history of acting to strengthen good governance and the rule of law”.

    One of the gravest affronts to everything we stand for is Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Putin’s blockade of the ports that would otherwise be shipping food to the world’s poorest people.

    At this moment, nearly 25 million tonnes of corn and wheat is piled up in silos across Ukraine, held hostage by Russia.

    Britain supports the United Nations plan to get that food out and we will invest over £370 million in global food security this year, including £130 million for the World Food Programme.

    We want to work alongside our Commonwealth friends to understand your needs and priorities and deliver joint solutions to a crisis that Putin has deliberately engineered.

    For now, it only remains for me to thank every Commonwealth member for having given the United Kingdom the chance to serve as Chair-in-Office.

    And as I pass on this responsibility to President Kagame, a close friend and partner, I know that he shares my boundless optimism about the future of the Commonwealth at the forefront of the international agenda, and benefiting all our peoples.

    Thank you all very much.

  • Boris Johnson – 2022 Article on the Commonwealth

    Boris Johnson – 2022 Article on the Commonwealth

    The article written by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, and published in the Telegraph (and issued as a Government news release) on 19 June 2022.

    There was something magical about watching the Platinum Pageant outside Buckingham Palace – the sheer joy and enthusiasm of the crowds, the dash and exuberance of the parade and then the deafening cheer as the Queen appeared on the balcony.

    Below her stood her Guardsmen, scarlet islands in a human sea of acclaim, and nearby were the khaki tunics and varied headgear of soldiers from Commonwealth nations across the world.

    I have no doubt that Her Majesty would have been looking out for the Commonwealth contingents because she never forgets something that her British subjects are occasionally inclined to overlook. She is more than our beloved Queen: she is also Head of the Commonwealth.

    And there is a fact of geopolitics that I never forget: this unique association of sovereign states is becoming ever more significant and valuable.

    This week I will go to Rwanda for a Commonwealth summit and around the table will be 54 countries encompassing about a third of humanity.

    You could point out that Commonwealth members are vastly different in just about every way and of course you would be right. The Pacific archipelago of Tuvalu (population 11,000) will be at the same table as India (population 1.3 billion).

    Yet for all the differences between us, we are joined by an invisible thread of shared values, history and institutions and of course the English language. We will meet on equal terms as old friends who know one another well.

    If you retort that this all sounds vague and whimsical and no job was ever created and no parsnip buttered by invisible threads or shared values I would have to point out that you are mistaken – demonstrably and provably mistaken.

    It is an amazing fact that those invisible threads – particularly a common language and familiar legal and administrative systems – are of immense practical value for trade. Today the “Commonwealth advantage” knocks 21 per cent off the cost of trade between members.

    The same applies to investment, which is 27 per cent higher between Commonwealth nations than for other country pairs.

    All of this creates a unique opportunity for Britain whereby the Commonwealth – and only the Commonwealth – combines vast and rapidly growing markets with a real and quantified trading advantage.

    That is why we are mobilising the UK’s regained sovereignty to sign free trade or economic partnership agreements with as many Commonwealth countries as possible.

    So far we’ve done 33, including Australia and New Zealand, and we’re aiming for India, the biggest of them all, by Diwali in October.

    You only have to look at the sheer scale of economic expansion in many of the club’s biggest members to see why the Commonwealth trade advantage is going to become ever more important for British jobs and livelihoods.

    The Commonwealth’s GDP – $13.1 trillion – has risen by a quarter since 2017. Over the next five years, it’s forecast to jump by close to another 50 per cent to $19.5 trillion.

    Here are the growing markets for British exports that will create jobs at home and, at the same time, ease the pressure on the cost of living.

    Is it just about trade, you might ask? Do those invisible threads amount to anything more than an opportunity for commerce?

    I would reply that of course they do. Next month, we will host the Commonwealth games in Birmingham; once again, athletes and visitors from across the world will converge on the UK.

    And the Commonwealth comprises over a quarter of the total membership of the United Nations: together we have the weight to exert global influence. In the past, the Commonwealth’s quietly effective diplomacy helped to hasten the end of apartheid in South Africa.

    If that sounds a bit far away, it was only in 2020 that Britain delivered the first Joint Statement by all 54 Commonwealth members at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, recalling our “proud history of acting to strengthen good governance and the rule of law”.

    I will go to the Commonwealth summit ever more convinced that our unique association, already proving its worth every day, will become yet more valuable in the decades ahead. Like the Queen, we should all cherish the Commonwealth.

  • Boris Johnson – 2022 Comments on Second Visit to Kiev

    Boris Johnson – 2022 Comments on Second Visit to Kiev

    The comments made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 17 June 2022.

    My visit today, in the depths of this war, is to send a clear and simple message to the Ukrainian people: the UK is with you, and we will be with you until you ultimately prevail.

    As Ukrainian soldiers fire UK missiles in defence of your nation’s sovereignty, they do so also in defence of the very freedoms we take for granted.

    That is why I have offered President Zelenskyy a major new military training programme that could change the equation of this war –harnessing that most powerful of forces, the Ukrainian determination to win.

    Two months on from my last visit, the Ukrainian grit, determination and resilience is stronger than ever, and I know that unbreakable resolve will long outlive the vain ambitions of President Putin.

  • Boris Johnson – 2022 Press Conference on His Second Visit to Kyiv

    Boris Johnson – 2022 Press Conference on His Second Visit to Kyiv

    The press conference with Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 17 June 2022.

    Thank you for having me. It’s great to be back here again in Kyiv and to see you, but also to see how life is coming back to the streets, to the cafes, to the restaurants.

    It’s much livelier than it was just a few weeks ago when you and I went on our impromptu walk about, Volodymyr, and that’s a very positive thing. It’s good to see visitors, let me put it this way from other European countries, coming to Kyiv.

    But we’ve got to face the fact that only a couple of hours away a barbaric assault continues on entirely innocent people.

    Towns and villages are being reduced to rubble.

    And as you rightly say, Volodymyr, we continue to see the deliberate targeting of civilians – what is unquestionably a war crime.

    And in a hideous echo of the past, the illegal deportation of people that the Russian forces believe are insufficiently sympathetic to Putin’s aggression and in these circumstances, we can only once again salute the heroism of the Ukrainian forces, the bravery of your armed forces.

    In these circumstances, Volodymyr, I completely understand why you and your people can make no compromise with Putin.

    Because if Ukraine is suffering, if Ukrainian troops are suffering, then I have to tell you that all the evidence is that Putin’s troops are under acute pressure themselves and they are taking heavy casualties.

    Their expenditure of munitions, of shells and other weaponry is colossal.

    And after our 114 days of attack on Ukraine, they have still not achieved the objectives they set out for the first week.

    So Volodymyr, we are here once again, to underline that we are with you to give you the strategic endurance that you will need and we are going to continue to help intensify the sanctions on Putin’s regime.

    We’re going to do everything we can to continue to strengthen the diplomatic coalition around the world for Ukraine.

    And I completely understand and sympathise with the need for continued financial support for Ukraine.

    We’re going to work together to liberate the grain, as you rightly say that he’s being held hostage right now by Putin, depriving people around the world of the food that they need.

    And of course, we will continue, as we have from the beginning, to provide the military equipment, the training that may be necessary to go with that with that new equipment, so that you – the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian Armed Forces, will be able to do what I believe Ukrainians yearn to do and that is to expel the aggressor from Ukraine.

    And that will be the moment for talks about the future.

    And it will be in that context of a free Ukraine that we and other countries will be making the security commitments and guarantees that we’ve we discussed so often.

    And we will work together with you and with our partners to rebuild your wonderful country for the benefit of Ukrainians and I might say, for the benefit of the whole of the global economy.

    Thank you for having me to Kyiv again. Always wonderful to be here. Slava Ukraini.

  • Boris Johnson – 2022 Letter to Lord Geidt Following Resignation

    Boris Johnson – 2022 Letter to Lord Geidt Following Resignation

    The letter sent by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, to Lord Geidt on 16 June 2022, in response to his letter of resignation.

    Letter (in .pdf format)

  • Boris Johnson – 2022 Speech on the 40th Anniversary of the Falkland Islands Liberation

    Boris Johnson – 2022 Speech on the 40th Anniversary of the Falkland Islands Liberation

    The speech made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 14 June 2022.

    It is a great honour for me to join you today before this extraordinary gathering of so many brave, gallant individuals, so many veterans and their families, exactly 40 years after British soldiers entered Port Stanley and liberated the Falkland Islands.

    If you look at the photographs of our troops raising the Union Flag over Government House, you’ll see young men who had just fought their way across a desolate and freezing landscape,

    and they’re unkempt and unshaven, their camouflage is streaked with mud, and you sense that their stamina – even their legendary stamina, has been tested to the limit, but what strikes you most is how their eyes and their faces are filled with pride in what they have achieved.

    I of course have to rely on photographs, yet many of you were actually there.

    You were the spearhead of an immense national effort, whereby our country dispatched a Task Force 8,000 miles to the South Atlantic to liberate a British territory from occupation and, even more importantly, to vindicate the principle that the people of the Falkland Islands – like people everywhere – have a right to decide their own future and live peacefully in their own land.

    You left behind 255 British service personnel who laid down their lives for that principle, along with three Falkland Islanders.

    As we honour their memory, the greatest tribute we can pay them is that ever since the liberation the Falkland Islands have lived and thrived in peace and freedom.

    Today, they are home to people of 60 nationalities, providing Britain’s gateway to the Antarctic, and vital opportunities for conservation and scientific research, based on a modern partnership founded on that principle of self-determination.

    None of this would have happened without the tenacity, courage and fortitude of everyone who served in the Task Force and the thousands of civilians who made it possible.

    Now, in honour of your achievements and sacrifice, I would like to ask the Hon Roger Spink and the Hon Leona Roberts of the Falkland Islands Government to present Tom Herring, the Chairman of the South Atlantic Medal Association, with a scroll giving all holders of the South Atlantic Medal the Freedom of the Falkland Islands.

  • Boris Johnson – 2022 Comments on Government’s Food Strategy

    Boris Johnson – 2022 Comments on Government’s Food Strategy

    The comments made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 13 June 2022.

    Our Food Strategy sets out a blueprint for how we will back farmers, boost British industry and help protect people against the impacts of future economic shocks by safeguarding our food security.

    Harnessing new technologies and innovation, we will grow and eat more of our own food – unlocking jobs across the country and growing the economy, which in turn will ultimately help to reduce pressure on prices.

  • Boris Johnson – 2022 Comments Following No Confidence Vote

    Boris Johnson – 2022 Comments Following No Confidence Vote

    The comments made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 7 June 2022.

    This is a government that delivers on what the people of this country care about most.

    We have pledged £37 billion to support households with their finances, made our communities safer through hiring 13,500 more police officers, and tackled the Covid backlogs in the NHS by opening nearly 100 Community Diagnostic Centres so people can access care closer to home.

    Today, I pledge to continue delivering on these priorities. We are on the side of hard-working British people, and we are going to get on with the job.

  • Boris Johnson – 2022 Comments at Start of Press Conference on Sue Gray Report

    Boris Johnson – 2022 Comments at Start of Press Conference on Sue Gray Report

    The comments made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 25 May 2022.

    Earlier today Sue Gray published her final report, which I commissioned to get to the bottom of things and set the record straight, and I’m grateful to her for her work.

    She has identified a number of failings, some official, some political, – and some that I accept are entirely my own, for which I take full responsibility.

    I want to start by saying that I am humbled by what happened, and I renew my wholehearted apology for the gathering in the Cabinet Room on the 19th June 2020 – my birthday, for which I received a Fixed Penalty Notice.

    Now that Sue Gray has completed her inquiry and everyone can read her report, I want in all humility and without mitigating what has happened to offer a few points of context. 10 Downing Street is not just my official residence but the headquarters of the Government, where hundreds of people work, and because they directly support the Prime Minister, the regulations allowed them to continue attending their offices for work purposes throughout the lockdowns.

    Sue Gray describes them as “tight knit groups of officials and advisers” who “worked long hours under difficult conditions”.

    These were the public servants who secured the PPE that saved many lives, established the biggest testing programme in Europe, and enabled the development and distribution of the vaccines that succeeded in protecting so many people. When some of these officials and advisers were leaving their jobs, I briefly attended gatherings to thank them for everything they had done because I believe that recognising achievement and preserving morale are essential duties of leadership.

    The police did not find my attendance at these occasions to be in breach of the rules, but they found otherwise in respect of some of those gatherings after I had left, or when I was not in the building.

    Downing Street and the Cabinet Office together have hundreds of rooms, and again I say this not in any way to extenuate my personal responsibility, but to give the context of these events.

    And I was appalled to learn that there have been “multiple examples” in Sue Gray’s phrase of disrespectful and poor treatment of cleaning and security personnel, and this afternoon, I personally apologised to those dedicated members of staff for what happened. and I expect anyone who behaved in that way to do the same.

    As Sue Gray acknowledges, I have acted on her recommendations to make a series of changes. 10 Downing Street now has its own Permanent Secretary charged with upholding the highest standards.

    I have appointed a new leadership team, including a new Chief of Staff and a new Principal Private Secretary and I have made it easier for any member of staff to voice any worries they may have and Sue Gray writes that she is “reassured” by this reform.

    And it is precisely because I have learned this lesson that I feel an even greater weight of responsibility to deliver on the priorities of the British people, and lead our country through some of the most challenging times in recent history.

    I will work every hour to ease the hardship caused by the rising cost of living,

    To protect our nation from the aftershocks of Covid, stand firm against Putin’s aggression, and to unite and level up across our United Kingdom, that is the mission that drives this government and that is the mission that I will continue to pursue.

  • Boris Johnson – 2022 Statement on the Sue Gray Report

    Boris Johnson – 2022 Statement on the Sue Gray Report

    The statement made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, in the House of Commons, on 25 May 2022.

    With permission, I will make a statement, Mr Speaker. I am grateful to Sue Gray for her report today, and I want to thank her for the work that she has done. I also thank the Metropolitan police for completing its investigation.

    I want to begin today by renewing my apology to the House and to the whole country for the short lunchtime gathering on 19 June 2020 in the Cabinet Room, during which I stood at my place at the Cabinet table and for which I received a fixed penalty notice. I also want to say, above all, that I take full responsibility for everything that took place on my watch. Sue Gray’s report has emphasised that it is up to the political leadership in No. 10 to take ultimate responsibility, and, of course, I do. But since these investigations have now come to an end, this is my first opportunity to set out some of the context, and to explain both my understanding of what happened and what I have previously said to the House.

    It is important to set out that over a period of about 600 days, gatherings on a total of eight dates have been found to be in breach of the regulations in a building that is 5,300 metres square across five floors, excluding the flats—[Interruption.] Mr Speaker, I do think this is important, because it is the first chance I have had to set out the context.

    Hundreds of staff are entitled to work there, and the Cabinet Office, which has thousands of officials, is now the biggest that it has been at any point in its 100-year history. That is, in itself, one of the reasons why the Government are now looking for change and reform.

    Those staff working in Downing Street were permitted to continue attending their office for the purpose of work, and the exemption under the regulations applied to their work because of the nature of their jobs, reporting directly to the Prime Minister. These people were working extremely long hours, doing their best to give this country the ability to fight the pandemic during—[Interruption.] Mr Speaker, I appreciate that this is no mitigation, but it is important to set out the context.

    Mr Speaker

    Order. I appeal to the House: I expect the statement to be heard, and I want everybody to hear it. I want the same respect to be shown to the Leader of the Opposition afterwards. Please: this is a very important statement. The country wants to hear it as well.

    The Prime Minister

    Mr Speaker, I am trying to set out the context, not to mitigate or to absolve myself in any way.

    The exemption under which those staff were present in Downing Street includes circumstances where officials and advisers were leaving the Government, and it was appropriate to recognise them and to thank them for the work that they have done. [Interruption.] Let me come to that, Mr Speaker. I briefly attended such gatherings to thank them for their service—which I believe is one of the essential duties of leadership, and is particularly important when people need to feel that their contributions have been appreciated—and to keep morale as high as possible. [Interruption.] I am trying to explain the reasons why I was there, Mr Speaker.

    It is clear from what Sue Gray has had to say that some of these gatherings then went on far longer than was necessary. They were clearly in breach of the rules, and they fell foul of the rules. I have to tell the House, because the House will need to know this—again, this is not to mitigate or to extenuate—that I had no knowledge of subsequent proceedings, because I simply was not there, and I have been as surprised and disappointed as anyone else in this House as the revelations have unfolded. Frankly, I have been appalled by some of the behaviour, particularly in the treatment of the security and the cleaning staff. I would like to apologise to those members of staff, and I expect anyone who behaved in that way to apologise to them as well.

    I am happy to set on the record now that when I came to this House and said in all sincerity that the rules and guidance had been followed at all times, it was what I believed to be true. It was certainly the case when I was present at gatherings to wish staff farewell—the House will note that my attendance at these moments, brief as it was, has not been found to be outside the rules—but clearly this was not the case for some of those gatherings after I had left, and at other gatherings when I was not even in the building. So I would like to correct the record—to take this opportunity, not in any sense to absolve myself of responsibility, which I take and have always taken, but simply to explain why I spoke as I did in this House.

    In response to her interim report, Sue Gray acknowledges that very significant changes have already been enacted. She writes:

    “I am pleased progress is being made in addressing the issues I raised.”

    She adds:

    “Since my update there have been changes to the organisation and management of Downing Street and the Cabinet Office with the aim of creating clearer lines of leadership and accountability and now these need the chance and time to bed in.”

    No. 10 now has its own permanent secretary, charged with applying the highest standards of governance. There are now easier ways for staff to voice any worries, and Sue Gray welcomes the fact that

    “steps have since been taken to introduce more easily accessible means by which to raise concerns electronically, in person or online, including directly with the Permanent Secretary”.

    The entire senior management has changed. There is a new chief of staff, an elected Member of this House who commands the status of a Cabinet Minister. There is a new director of communications, a new principal private secretary and a number of other key appointments in my office. I am confident, with the changes and new structures that are now in place, that we are humbled by the experience and we have learned our lesson.

    I want to conclude by saying that I am humbled, and I have learned a lesson. Whatever the failings—[Interruption.] We will come to that. Whatever the failings of No. 10 and the Cabinet Office throughout this very difficult period—[Interruption.] And my own, for which I take full responsibility. I continue to believe that the civil servants and advisers in question—hundreds of them, thousands of them, some of whom are the very people who have received fines—are good, hard-working people, motivated by the highest calling to do the very best for our country. I will always be proud of what they achieved, including procuring essential life-saving personal protective equipment, creating the biggest testing programme in Europe and helping to enable the development and distribution of the vaccine that got this country through the worst pandemic of a century.

    Now we must get our country through the aftershocks of covid with every ounce of ingenuity, compassion and hard work. I hope that today, as well as learning the lessons from Sue Gray’s report, which I am glad I commissioned—I am grateful to her—we will be able to move on and focus on the priorities of the British people: standing firm against Russian aggression; easing the hardship caused by the rising costs that people are facing; and fulfilling our pledges to generate a high-wage, high-skill, high-employment economy that will unite and level up across the whole of our United Kingdom. That is my mission, that is our mission, that is the mission of the whole Government, and we will work day and night to deliver it. I commend this statement to the House.