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Gallery|Boris Johnson

Photos: Boris Johnson’s time in office as he exits Downing Street

The debate over leader Boris Johnson’s legacy will linger long after he leaves, as Liz Truss set to succeed him.

Boris Johnson with boxing gloves reading: Get Brexit done
Boris Johnson poses for a photo wearing boxing gloves emblazoned with 'Get Brexit Done' during a stop in his election campaign trail at Jimmy Egan's Boxing Academy on November 19, 2019 in Manchester, England. [Frank Augstein/WPA Pool/Getty Images]
Published On 5 Sep 20225 Sep 2022
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Liz Truss will become the new leader of the British Conservative Party, and will therefore succeed Boris Johnson as the United Kingdom’s new prime minister.

As the leadership race culminated on Monday, the debate about Johnson’s legacy will linger long after he is formally replaced by Truss on Tuesday.

Johnson, who spearheaded the Conservatives to a huge election victory in 2019, led Britain out of the European Union the following year. But his government collapsed in July in the wake of a series of ethics scandals.

The benefits of Britain’s EU exit touted by Johnson and other supporters have yet to materialise.

His successor inherits a deflating economy and a cost-of-living crisis sparked by such factors as Brexit and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The other defining event of his premiership was COVID-19, which landed Johnson in intensive care in April 2020 and has left more than 180,000 people in Britain dead.

Johnson hesitated before imposing a nationwide lockdown in March 2020; experts later said acting a week earlier would have saved thousands of lives.

Britain went on to have three long lockdowns, a deep economic slump and one of the highest death tolls in Europe.

But the UK’s vaccine programme, led by a task force of scientists and businesspeople, is widely regarded as a huge success.

Apart from Brexit, Johnson’s main international cause has been Ukraine. He has been one of the most prominent allies of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Britain has backed up the rhetoric with billions in military and humanitarian aid to help the country resist Russia’s invasion.

The support has made Johnson a popular figure in Ukraine, though critics say any other British leader would have followed the same policy.

He brazened out public anger at lockdown-breaching parties in Downing Street during the pandemic, for which he was fined by police.

But his appointment to a key job of a politician who had been accused of sexual misconduct proved a scandal too far for Conservative legislators, who forced him out.

Boris Johnson
Johnson tries to walk a bull during a visit to Darnford Farm in Banchory, near Aberdeen in Scotland, on September 6, 2019. [Andrew Milligan/Pool via AFP]
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Boris Johnson
Johnson (left) during a visit to pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca in Macclesfield, northwest England on April 6, 2021. The coronavirus pandemic has been one of the defining events of Johnson's premiership. [Dave Thompson/Pool via AFP]
Boris Johnson
Johnson during a visit to the Henbury Farm in north Dorset, on August 30, 2022. His successor, Liz Truss, inherits a deflating economy and a substantial cost-of-living crisis. [Ben Birchall/Pool via AFP]
Boris Johnson
Johnson (left) gets a traditional turban tied on his head upon his arrival at the Gujarat Biotechnology University in Gandhinagar on April 21, 2022. [Ben Stansall/Pool via AFP]
Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson waves with his ministerial red box as he boards an aircraft at London Stansted airport, on May 11, 2022. During his final appearance in Parliament as prime minister in July, he summed up his three years in office as, 'Mission largely accomplished'. [Frank Augstein/Pool via AFP]
Boris Johnson
Johnson became prime minister with a promise to deliver Brexit, but the benefits touted by him and others have not yet materialised. [Daniel Leal/Pool via AFP]
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Boris Johnson
Johnson remains a member of Parliament for the Conservative Party. [Justin Tallis/Pool via AFP]
Boris Johnson
Some Conservatives believe he could try to return as leader if his successor falters. [Daniel Leal/AFP]


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