Composition

Boris Johnson begins his first speech as PM with a reference to Queen Elizabeth II, which leads him to announce that has has taken on the role of Prime Minister. 

A brief mention of Theresa May, whom he only refers to as his predecessor (l. 4), helps him introduce one of the main topics of his speech: Britain’s exit from the EU on October 31. Johnson expresses his confidence that the exit deadline will be respected, and his belief that a new deal between Britain and the EU will be reached even before the deadline (ll. 15-16). This signals optimism to the British people, whose concern about the Brexit delays Johnson acknowledges explicitly (l. 15).

A second topic that Johnson approaches is that his government will work to make Britain a better and more united c...