Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson left podcast host Steven Bartlett baffled during an interview on Thursday, as he claimed it was never his responsibility to devise a plan for life after the Brexit referendum.
Johnson, who spearheaded the Leave campaign in 2016 alongside Michael Gove, told Bartlett on The Diary of a CEO podcast that the Brexiteers were not tasked with forming a plan for the UK’s future outside the EU.
Despite leading the campaign that won 52% to 48% in the EU referendum, Johnson suggested that it was the government’s job to handle the aftermath, not his.
Bartlett pressed him on this, saying: “You seem almost angry that people would expect you to come up with a plan, even though you led the campaign.”
In response, Johnson referenced his new memoir Unleashed, where he wrote: “Never at any point in that campaign did we [Boris and Michael Gove] discuss a future Leave-based government because we did not imagine that we would have to be in charge of government. It was a referendum, not an election.”
The former PM explained that the chaos that followed the referendum was not the responsibility of the Leave campaign and expressed frustration at being blamed for it. Johnson also implied that the government of the time, led by David Cameron, should have continued its role rather than stepping down.
Bartlett, visibly puzzled, questioned why Johnson felt this way, noting that the absence of a clear plan was a major issue.
Johnson stood firm, insisting that it was not his job to prepare a post-Brexit strategy. He argued that if the Leave campaign had been campaigning to form a government, people would have thought they were only doing so to advance their political careers.
In response to Bartlett’s suggestion that perhaps the public should have listened to leaders who warned about the lack of a plan, Johnson replied, “No, because I thought they were wrong.”
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