Boris Johnson tells Farnborough Air Show the Tory Government will ‘roar on’

Boris Johnson insisted the “engines” of the Conservative Government will “roar on” after he steps down as Prime Minister.

He made the comment as he opened Farnborough Air Show in one of his final public appearances as Tory leader.

In a speech, he told delegates he was pleased to visit the event “in the climactic weeks of my time as Prime Minister”.

He said: “I want you to know that after three happy years in the cockpit, and after performing some pretty difficult, if not astonishing feats, getting Brexit done, restoring this country’s ability to make its own laws in Parliament.

“Have I told you this before? Never mind.”

After listing a series of further achievements, including in relation to coronavirus vaccinations and military support for Ukraine, the Prime Minister said: “I am now going to hand over the controls seamlessly to someone else.

“I don’t know who, but whoever it is, I can tell you this, I can reassure you of this, that the great Rolls-Royce twin engines of this Conservative Government will roar on.

“Fantastic public services. A dynamic free market economy. Each boosting the other and developing, what’s the word I want, millions of tons of trust.

“And there could be no better example of that relationship and that symbiosis between government and the private sector, than the aviation industry.”

After the speech, Mr Johnson met aviation leaders and apprentices, chatted to British astronaut Tim Peake and stepped inside an electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft at the event in Hampshire.

The Prime Minister is set to leave office in September following the election of a new Tory leader.

The House of Commons’ summer recess begins on Friday.

Mr Johnson continued: “On this scorching day, with the thermometer about to blow and temperatures here apparently higher than the Sahara, there is the next great technological challenge, which is how to
send a plane across the Atlantic without burning thousands of tons of kerosene and adding to the carbon tea cosy that is heating our planet to destruction.

“We know that we must fix it. We know that time is running out.

“That’s why one of the first things I initiated three years ago was a project called Jet Zero, which I think many of you are participating in, thanks very much for what you are doing.

“A zero-carbon flight.”

Mr Johnson is facing criticism for not leading emergency meetings being held in response to the extreme temperatures.

Cabinet Office minister Kit Malthouse, who will chair another Cobra meeting on Monday.

Downing Street insisted it was “not unusual” for Cabinet ministers to lead such meetings.

Farnborough Air Show is one of the world’s biggest aerospace and defence trade shows.

The five-day event is expected to be attended by around 1,500 exhibitors and 80,000 visitors from 96 countries.

The show usually takes place every two years, but the coronavirus pandemic means this is the first time it has been held since 2018.

Deals worth a total of £161 billion (192 billion US dollars) were agreed at the last show, according to organisers.