I’ll splash down like a spent booster rocket in the sea, says Boris

David Bond Deputy Political Editor BORIS JOHNSON bowed out as prime minister today with a call for his divided party to get behind Liz Truss after he was forced out by a ministerial mutiny.

In a speech in front of No 10's famous black door, Mr Johnson drew the line under his contentious three-year premiership with a warning of "tough times" ahead as Britain faces its worst cost-of-living crisis in decades.

But as he prepared to travel to Balmoral to resign formally to the Queen, Mr Johnson said he was confident the country would come through the economic storm and pledged his full support to Ms Truss who was set to become Britain's 56th prime minister.

"I know that Liz Truss and this compassionate Conservative government will do everything we can to get people through this crisis," he said as a group of loyal Tory ministers and MPs cheered him on. "And this country will endure it and we will win." Watched by his wife Carrie, who emerged with Mr Johnson from No 10 wearing a bright pink dress, he went on: "This is a tough time for the economy. This is a tough time for families up and down the country. We can we will get through it and we will come out stronger the other side.

"But I say to my fellow Conservatives it is time for the politics to be over, folks and it's time for us all to get behind Liz Truss and her programme." Despite his calls for unity, many allies of Mr Johnson remain angry at the way he was forced to resign from office following the partygate storm and a string of sleaze allegations against some Tory MPs.