Johnson insists that he will admit “criticism” but does not anticipate a change of course after the electoral defeats

The British Prime Minister claims to be the country’s guide and attributes the results to the constant criticism of his figure

LONDON, June 25. (DPA/EP) –

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, has declared this Saturday that he is not going to go through a “psychological change” after the wave of criticism received after the poor results of his Conservative party in the last British elections, but has admitted that he will accept “with all sincerity and humility the criticisms received” as long as they have “sustenance”.

On the other hand, Johnson has pointed out that many British governments are “beaten” during the local and by-elections that mark the middle of his term and has declared that this succession of defeats is motivated by the news about their problems — such as parties during the pandemic — and do not allow voters to focus on what “the government does for them”, as he hopes will happen sooner or later according to statements to BBC Radio 4.

The president of the British Conservative Party, Oliver Dowden, presented his resignation on Friday after the notorious defeats suffered by the formation in the partial elections this Thursday.

The Conservatives held a “reflection” Friday yesterday, as Home Secretary Priti Patel pointed out, after the defeat to Labor in the Wakefield constituency elections and, above all, the loss of the Devon seat: a catastrophe in which they let a majority of 24,000 votes escape to end up giving the seat to the Liberal Democrats.

“We cannot continue to act as if nothing happened,” Dowden acknowledged in his resignation letter, released through his Twitter account, in which he summed up Thursday’s elections as “the latest in a long string of very bad results” in reference also to the resounding defeat of the party in the local elections on May 5, when the Conservatives lost almost 400 seats in the district councils.

In response, Johnson has claimed his figure as the country’s guide. “What I can do and want to do is continue to transform and improve our systems and our economy,” said the British Prime Minister. “The only substantial argument against my figure has been the desire expressed by certain people to rejoin the European Union,” he added.

The prime minister addressed a statement to Sky News in which he indicated that the by-elections can be interpreted as “a safety valve” that voters use to vent against the government.

In this sense, Johnson clarified that, in the face of these complaints, the task of a leader is to “discriminate the criticism that really matters” and “people have not heard things about important issues for a long time.”