Boris Johnson promises to take 'personal responsibility' for delivering Brexit in first speech as PM

Boris Johnson has promised to take “personal responsibility” for delivering a successful Brexit, as he used his first speech as prime minister to repeat his pledge to take the UK out of the EU by 31 October with or without a deal.

Standing outside Downing Street moments after being asked by the Queen to form a government, Mr Johnson declared: “Never mind the backstop. The buck stops here.”

The new PM had dodged the question during the leadership campaign of whether he would resign if he misses the Halloween deadline for Brexit, but his comment is the closest he has come to saying he might.

As well pledging to deliver EU withdrawal on time, “no ifs or buts”, Mr Johnson made a string of promises, ranging from 20,000 extra police officers to 20 new hospital upgrades, a levelling up in per pupil spending in schools and a new social care system to free elderly people of the fear of being forced to sell their homes

And, in a move that guarantees he will later be held to account by opponents for any failure to deliver, he promised: “I will take personal responsibility for the change I want to see.”

In comments which will cause consternation in Brussels, Mr Johnson – watched by partner Carrie Symonds and newly-recruited Downing Street aides – repeated campaign promises to negotiate a new withdrawal deal without the controversial backstop for the Irish border.

He suggested that if Brussels “refuses to negotiate” he would be ready to go for no deal and to use the £39bn divorce settlement agreed by Ms May as “extra lubrication” to ease the situation.

The European Council president, Donald Tusk, congratulated the new PM in a terse two-sentence note, in which he pointedly said he looked forward to discussing his Brexit plan "in detail".

Mr Johnson promised to maintain the "unequivocal" guarantee to 3.2 million EU nationals now resident in the UK that they will be allowed to stay.

And he said: "I am convinced we can do a deal without checks at the Irish border, because we refuse under any circumstances to have such checks, and yet without that anti-democratic backstop.

"And it is of course vital at the same time that we prepare for the remote possibility that Brussels refuses any further to negotiate and we are forced to come out with no deal."

He promised to push forward swiftly with preparations for all parts of the UK economy to be ready for no deal.

Whether or not a deal is done, he said the government would produce an economic package in the autumn to boost business and attract inward investment.

"Yes, there will be difficulties, though I believe that with energy and application they will be far less serious than some have claimed," he said.

In a signal of the kind of bonfire of regulations he is hoping for in the wake of Brexit, Mr Johnson said the UK should "look not at the risks but the opportunities that are upon us".

And he laid out proposals for freeports, relaxation of genetic modification rules in the bioscience industry and the development of a UK satellite position navigation system, as well as changing tax rules "to provide extra incentives to invest in capital and research".

Mr Johnson's trip to Buckingham Palace was briefly impeded by Greenpeace protesters who blocked The Mall.

As he took possession of Downing Street from Theresa May, Mr Johnson paid tribute to his predecessor's "fortitude, patience ... and deep sense of public service".

But he painted a damning picture of her handling of Brexit, saying: "After three years of unfounded self-doubt, it is time to change the record... If there is one thing that has really sapped the confidence of business over the last three years, it is not the decisions we have taken, it is our refusal to take decisions."

Insisting that he would not wait for the 99 days that remain until the Brexit deadline, he said: "The British people have had enough of waiting. The time has come to act, to take decisions, to give strong leadership and to change this country for the better."

Just hours after Ms May warned him of the need to deliver a Brexit that works for all the country, Mr Johnson promised to govern as prime minister for the "awesome foursome" of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Promising investment in road, rail and full-fibre broadband, he said: "That means uniting our country, answering at last the plea of the forgotten people and the left-behind towns, by physically and literally renewing the ties that bind us together."

He said: "We in this government will work flat-out to give this country the leadership it deserves. And that work begins now."

The new Liberal Democrat leader, Jo Swinson, dismissed Mr Johnson's speech as "bluster and bravado with no substance".

"Millions of people across our country will be looking on in dismay that Boris Johnson is our new prime minister," said Ms Swinson. "Britain deserves better than Boris Johnson. He is somebody that doesn't really care about anybody but himself."

Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, said: "Boris Johnson is about to learn that there is a massive gulf between glib throwaway lines that delight the Tory faithful and the difficult decisions of leadership.

"We must stand united against the politics he represents and do all we can to ensure his time in office is as short as possible."

Starmer said the early autumn would see "a crunch point where what Boris Johnson says and reality collide", when MPs would insist they will not allow him to drag the UK out of the EU without a deal.