New prime minister claims he can do better deal with EU but will prepare for no deal
Boris Johnson has become the UK’s new prime minister, promising to defy “the doubters, the doomsters and the gloomsters” by completing Brexit with a deal by 31 October.
Standing outside Downing Street after visiting the Queen, he gave a speech infused with patriotic pronouncements, saying the “people who bet against Britain are going to lose their shirts”.
He also tore into Theresa May’s record of failing to deliver Brexit, saying there had been “three years of unfounded self-doubt” under her government and it was “time to change the record to recover our natural and historic role as an enterprising, outward-looking and truly global Britain”.
Johnson told the nation: “I pay tribute to the fortitude and patience of my predecessor and her deep sense of public service.
But the major focus of Johnson’s speech was his determination to carry out Brexit within the next 99 days.
“We are going to fulfil the repeated promises of parliament to the people and come out of the EU on 31 October, no ifs or buts,” he said.
