PM says voters are 'fed up' of hearing about how he 'stuffed up' and urges Tory MPs to concentrate on debating policies and plans
Boris Johnson has claimed he is making plans for three terms in Downing Street, meaning that he would remain Prime Minister until the mid 2030s.
The Prime Minister told reporters in Kigali that he would lead the Conservatives into the next election, which is expected to take place in 2024. Asked if he would serve a full second term to 2029, Mr Johnson said: “Well look, at the moment I am thinking actively about the third term and you know, what could happen then. But I will review that when I get to it.”
Asked to clarify his remarks, he added: "This is the mid 2030s".
The Prime Minister also appeared to blame Tory rebels for the party’s double by-election defeat, saying voters are “fed up” of hearing about how he “stuffed up”.
He said he “respectfully” urges Conservative MPs to concentrate on debating policies and plans that will tackle the cost of living crisis and improve people's lives rather than criticising his leadership.
Speaking in the Rwandan capital, where he is attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm), he said the "endless" scrutiny of his character is "driving people nuts".
"I think that the lesson I take from the by-elections in Tiverton and in Wakefield is very simple," Mr Johnson said. "I think that actually people were fed up of hearing about things I had stuffed up or allegedly stuffed up or whatever."
Asked whether he would listen if the men in grey suits turned up at his door - a reference to the string of senior ministers who visited Margaret Thatcher to tell her to resign after she narrowly survived a leadership challenge by Michael Heseltine - he said: "I love my colleagues and I will always."
Asked by the BBC whether he would change in the wake of the losses, he said: "If you’re saying you want me to undergo some sort of psychological transformation, I think that our listeners will know that that is not going to happen.
"But what you can do and what the Government should do is get on with changing, reforming and improving our systems and our economy.
"If we’re going to have an argument about politics, let’s have an argument about for instance how the railways run, and that’s a subject of absolutely engrossing fascination for people up and down the country because they’re being affected by the rail strikes."
Mr Johnson insisted that questions over his premiership were settled by the recent vote of no confidence and said people are sick of hearing about internal Tory party manoeuvring.
"What’s driving people nuts is this endless churn of stuff about things that I’m meant to have stuffed up or whatever about my colleagues, their view of me, my character, the leadership, Tory blah blah," he said.
