19 September 2023 , 08:46
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Boris Johnson planned to joke about euthanasia and Humpty Dumpty in an attack on Tory MPs in his draft No10 resignation speech, a book claims.
The ex-Prime Minister's unedited version, however, was later toned down after it was shared with close allies and friends on July 7, 2022. He was forced from office last summer after a series of self-inflicted scandals, including the Partygate saga, destabilised the Government.
It also came after the mass resignations of ministers, including ex-Chancellor Rishi Sunak, and demands to quit from Tory MPs. According to a new book - the Right to Rule - examining the Tories' 13-year term in office, the former PM planned a more explicit attack on colleagues.
A draft of his resignation speech included the line: “In the last 48 hours I have been struck by how many colleagues have asked me to resign with dignity, as though they represented some kind of euthanasia clinic." The unedited extract, shared with Politico, added: “I cannot ask good friends and colleagues to superglue Humpty together again, when they are frankly hesitant or not supportive.”
The reported draft also claimed Mr Johnson planned to say: "There is still a part of me that thinks that if only we could have turned off Twitter and sent the MPs off to the beach we could’ve sorted this out and gone on to thrash Labour in the next election.”
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But in his speech outside No10 last summer, the former PM said only he told his Tory colleagues it would be "eccentric to change governments". "As we've seen at Westminster, the herd is powerful and when the herd moves, it moves, and my friends in politics no one is remotely indispensable," he added. Mr Johnson's team declined to comment when approached by The Mirror.
It came after extraordinary claims emerged on Monday that senior officials wanted the Queen to raise concerns about Mr Johnson's conduct in office during their private meetings.
During the height of the Covid crisis, government figures highlighted tensions with the disgraced ex-Prime Minister with Buckingham Palace, a BBC documentary states. One of the ideas reportedly discussed was that the late Queen could speak to Mr Johnson about the Government officials’ concerns during their private audiences.
The programme examining chaotic years in politics adds there were a number of phone calls and communications above routine between No10 and the Palace in May 2020. One source said the then-PM "had to be reminded of the constitution" - something denied by Mr Johnson's team. Another source described the atmosphere in Downing Street during that period as "utterly grim, and totally crazy", saying relationships had been "just toxic" and the links between Mr Johnson's team and the Civil Service "broke down".
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