Boris Johnson has insisted the UK is “the place to be” despite soaring energy bills, double-digit inflation, a looming recession and raw sewage being pumped onto its beaches.
The outgoing prime minister said Britain “has got an incredible future and has everything going for it” as he prepares to leave 10 Downing Street.
And he insisted he was “proud” of what he has done during his time as PM, despite being forced to resign following a mass rebellion by his ministers.
Johnson will be replaced as prime minister by either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak next Tuesday.
The new Conservative leader faces an ominous in-tray, with millions of people struggling to make ends meet as a result of the cost of living crisis.
But despite the many challenges facing his successor, Johnson - who hasn’t ruled out making a political comeback in the future - said the UK’s best days are ahead.
Asked whether Britain was “broken” in the final days of his leadership, he said: “Absolutely not. This country has got an incredible future and has everything going for it.
“Look at the place that people want to invest in. Which is the country that attracts more venture capital investment now than China? It’s the United Kingdom.
“Which country has, I think, more billion-pound start-up tech companies than France, than Germany, than Israel put together? It is the United Kingdom.
“Why do people want to come here? Because it is the place to be.
“What we’re doing now, and what I’m proud that we’ve done over the last three years or so, is put in a lot of things that will make this country fit for the future.”
Speaking outside a police station in Lewisham, south-east London, Johnson highlighted “unemployment at record lows” and “investment coming to this country on the scale we’ve never seen before”.
“We’ve got investments that we’re making in this country that are going to make it fit for the future,” he said.
“I’m talking about three new high-speed lines: the biggest rail investment for more than 100 years.
“Investment in gigabit broadband: giving people access to 21st-century communications. Fantastic progress from 7% coverage when I became prime minister to 70% today.”
He said that because of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine “we have pressures on the cost of living” but “we have the financial strength to get through them”.
“What we’re also doing is making sure that we have the long-term British energy supplies that we need to get our people through,” he added.
Johnson also used the government’s failure to prevent migrants arriving in the UK on small boats as proof of the UK’s popularity.
said that was “just a symptom of why this country is one of the most successful on Earth”.
“Of course, people want to come and live here,” he said.
“Of course it’s a perennial difficulty to stop people coming here illegally, but we’re taking powers to do that.”