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Boris Johnson Resigns: "Them's The Breaks"

2 years ago
Early this afternoon, United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson finally resigned as leader of the Conservative Party, after six months of speculation. He plans to stay at the head of the UK government until the autumn. Whatever people think about his politics, Johnson has a reputation for being an interesting speaker. You can watch his resignation speech below, but here is some vocabulary from it:

  • backbench - where the politicians who are not government ministers sit in the House of Commons
  • MP - member of Parliament
  • Cabinet - collective name for the most important ministers in the government
  • mandate - the right to be in power, given by voters
  • Brexit - the process of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union
  • levelling up - a term created by Johnson to suggest equality of opportunity for everyone
  • sledging - in this sense, the term comes from cricket, and means criticism intended to intimidate or distract
  • Darwinian - resembling the evolutionist Charles Darwin's ideas about 'survival of the fittest'
  • them's the breaks - an idiom meaning something like 'sometimes life happens in a way that you would not choose'
  • indefatiguable - never getting tired