Boris Johnson has been accused of leading a “zombie” government from the moment he agreed to quit on July 7.
The outgoing Tory chief went on a couple of foreign holidays and failed to announce a rescue package for one of the most pressing national problems in years – the energy bills crisis.
He sat on a police motorbike, flew in a fighter jet and had a party in the Cotswolds.
And he managed to top a poll of “worst prime ministers” since the Second World War.
What exactly has he been doing in the two months before he hands over power?
The grand tour
Shortly after pledging to stay in Downing Street until a successor was appointed, he jetted off to Slovenia for a holiday.
It was his delayed honeymoon with wife Carrie.
He was spotted on holiday in Greece too.
At the same time, Conservative peer Lord Rose – the Asda chairman – lamented the “captain of the ship is on shore leave – nobody is in charge”.
Inflation and food prices shot up.
Downing Street, asked where the prime minister might be working from in his final weeks, couldn’t say.
At the end of July, he and his wife held a party in a Tory donor’s mansion to celebrate the previous year’s wedding.
Cheap energy for all, just not yet
In a parting shot as prime minister, on September 1, he promised £700 million for a nuclear power station in Suffolk.
It was framed as a plan for cheap, clean, reliable and plentiful energy from future nuclear power.
The move follows weeks of anguished calls from all walks of life for the government he still ran to do something about an immediate crisis.
Our simple energy bill calculator predicts your future monthly costs
As his final week drew to a close, he suggested buying a £20 kettle – which others pointed out would save £10 from bills.
He’d earlier been to Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, to mark the commissioning of a new nuclear submarine and discuss security with deputy prime minister of Australia.
In Dorset on August 30, he suggested people might rely on “hope and perspective” in the tough months ahead.
That followed his prediction that a “golden” future awaits the country.
In fact, rarely a week went by without Mr Johnson saying someone will come along to help after September 6.
Playing cops and robbers, and fighter pilots
Mr Johnson joined a police raid on August 31 and managed to say “how are you doing?” to someone filming him from inside the house.
“Bro, how the f*** did I get raided and Boris Johnson’s there?” the man said on camera in a video posted online.
“Bro, how the f*** did I get raided and Boris Johnson’s there,” a man says to a camera in the video posted online https://t.co/hySbpIHDjz
— Evening Standard (@standardnews) September 1, 2022
It was a weird visual to round off his time in power, but not so different from an early one in summer when Mr Johnson had a spin in a fighter jet.
He was accused of checking out early when he hosted a party and flew in the RAF jet – missing an emergency meeting on the extreme heat wave.
Johnson the war PM
According to Ruth Davidson, the former Scottish Tory leader, Mr Johnson viewed his time at the foreign office as like being “trapped in a steel condom”.
But as prime minister, Mr Johnson was keen to be seen in Kyiv.
He posed with the Ukrainian president towards the end of August, using the opportunity to peg the cost-of-living crisis to the Russian invasion.
He has been praised publicly by leaders in Ukraine where politicians are grateful for military aid.
His own office had billed his final fortnight in power as an opportunity to restate support for Ukraine.
Any other business?
As the country grappled with economic gloom, Mr Johnson also reaffirmed Gibraltar’s city status, even though it hadn’t been undone.
He managed to step in and rescue his own foreign secretary’s blunder by saying French president Emmanuel Macron is, in fact, a “tres bon” buddy of the UK.
Ms Truss – the likely next PM – earlier said the “jury is out” on whether the president is a “friend or foe”.
He also made an appearance to pay respects at the funeral of David Trimble.
Could there be a comeback?
Mr Johnson signed off at the Commons by saying “Hasta la vista, baby”. His quote, from Arnold Schwarzenegger quote Terminator, was clearly meant to signal a return at some point.
But he later refused to comment on the idea of a return to high-profile politics.
With two weeks to go until he formally stepped down, he told reporters in Dorset that people are more interested in their broadband than the fate of “this or that politician”.
Queen not budging
For the first time in her reign, the Queen decided not to go to London to oversee the change of leadership on September 6.
She is staying in Balmoral, Aberdeenshire, instead.
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