THE votes are in, the leadership race is over, the era of Boris Johnson is in its final hours. What, in the end, did The Sun make of him as a Prime Minister?
Our verdict will not find favour with Remainers whose minds were always closed to the man without whom Brexit would never have happened.
Nor with those journalists who don’t care if PMs achieve a single thing as long as they dress smartly, sound grown-up and are as uncontroversial and boring as the hacks themselves.
But we believe this much is indisputable: Boris is by far our most significant leader since Maggie Thatcher and achieved monumental feats despite the personal flaws that proved his undoing.
Two of the greatest came the moment he was elected. His thumping 2019 win ended the hideous menace of Corbyn’s racist, Marxist, Putin fans — cheered on by Keir Starmer — taking control of the world’s fifth largest economy.
And it ensured Brexit WOULD be enacted. That democracy would prevail despite the insanely dangerous campaign by Remainer MPs to thwart it.
Britain left the EU because of Boris. Leavers will never forget.
Remainers will never forgive. But in future years, as we thrive thanks to our independence, his key role will merit even more praise.
His stated mission as PM, to “level-up” and spread wealth far more evenly outside the richer South-East, was a noble one derailed almost instantly by Covid.
He followed scientific advice on lockdowns, in hindsight too slavishly, but when we led the world on developing and rolling out jabs it did not happen by accident.
Boris took those decisions, saving countless lives and liberating our economy before almost anywhere else.
When Putin invaded Ukraine, Boris led the way again — recognising faster than anyone that Russia’s imperialist threat to a sovereign nation and the wider world must be faced down, with UK weapons and aid if need be. No wonder he is a hero to Ukrainians.
The downsides are plenty. Boris squandered his majority, had no real desire for the low-tax, low-regulation economy he advertised, and was careless and complacent about his apparent unassailability and Labour’s weakness.
When it came to scandal, involving his friends or him personally, he thought he could get away with anything and tried to.
That mishandling proved fatal.
But let us never forget how much was exaggerated and amplified by the 24/7 firestorm directed at him by a truly unhinged Remainer broadcast media — and social media too.
Watch these supposedly unbiased networks pivot on Monday towards a new Tory hate figure.
The Sun, though, wishes Boris well. He got far more right than wrong.
The scandals will be largely forgotten in years to come. The achievements will not.
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