BORIS Johnson was defiant at his last PMQ’s declaring it was “mission accomplished”before signing-off his final Prime Minister’s Questions by telling MPs: “Hasta la vista, baby.”
The outgoing Prime Minister received a standing ovation from the Conservative benches after concluding his final remarks, although his predecessor Theresa May did not join in with the applause.
Nadine Dorries hit back at Labour for failing to show the Prime Minister respect with a standing ovation as previous outgoing PM’s received from all sides of the house when Tony Blair, David Cameron and Theresa May all left office.
In his final answer from the despatch box, Mr Johnson said: “I want to use the last few seconds to give some words of advice to my successor, whoever he or she may be.
“Number one, stay close to the Americans, stick up for the Ukrainians, stick up for freedom and democracy everywhere.”
“Cut taxes and de-regulation wherever you can and make this the greatest place to live and invest, which it is.”
“I love the Treasury but remember that if we’d always listened to the Treasury we wouldn’t have built the M25 or the Channel Tunnel.”
“Focus on the road ahead, but always remember to check the rear-view mirror.”
“And remember above all it’s not Twitter that counts, it’s the people who sent us here.”
The Spanish term “hasta la vista” translates to “see you later”, but “hasta la vista, baby” is the catchphrase of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s cyborg character in the 1991 movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
Mr Johnson added: “The last few years have been the greatest privilege of my life, and it’s true that I helped to get the biggest Tory majority for 40 years and a huge realignment in UK politics.
“We’ve transformed our democracy and restored our national independence.
“I’ve helped to get this country through a pandemic and helped save another country from barbarism, and frankly that’s enough to be going on with.”
“Mission largely accomplished, for now.”
He thanked his staff and MPs before giving a nod to Schwarzenegger’s Terminator character by adding: “Hasta la vista, baby. Thank you.”
Mr Johnson received pats on the back from loyalist MPs as he exited the chamber.
