While Boris Johnson continues to bluster about the ‘democratic will of the people’ – I think it’s necessary to bring him back down to reality.

This is a man who has just been appointed as Prime Minister by around 120,000 Conservative Party members – not the general public at large, writes Peterborough MP Lisa Forbes.

Back in 2007, when writing his lavishly paid newspaper articles, he attacked Gordon Brown for entering 10 Downing Street without a general election, decrying his lack of “mandate from the British people” and calling his ascension “nothing less than a palace coup.”

I wonder what he thinks now he’s the beneficiary.

But that wasn’t the only hypocrisy on show in this leadership contest. Believe it or not, 15-17-year- old Conservative Party members have voted for the next Prime Minister, despite the Tories being against allowing 16 and 17-year-olds the vote in a general election.

Above all that, however, I am more concerned about the chaos and instability that a Boris Johnson premiership is going to bring to our country. The new Prime Minister, who by all accounts has been forced upon us instead of chosen by us, has a track record of inflammatory politics that will not provide the unity that we desperately need.

I, for one, don’t buy any of his Brexit bravado. His planet-sized ego dictates that he can negotiate a better deal with Brussels, or make a success out of a catastrophic No Deal scenario, but this is merely fancy rhetoric instead of the reality we find ourselves in.

There is no denying that we live in a divided nation, and I believe that I was elected on a platform of unity, compromise, and healing division. That’s what I believe the country needs, not an appointed hypocrite of a Prime Minister that has a damaging record of offensive comments towards several different minority groups.

Peterborough, like many cities above the M25, is becoming a forgotten community. With drastic cuts devolved to our local authorities by the government, we have seen our public services decimated over the last nine years of Tory rule.

During the race to be Prime Minister, Boris Johnson bragged that nobody “stuck up for the bankers” as much as he did. It’s clear that he’s far more interested in cosying up to the finance sector in Canary Wharf instead of redistributing power and wealth to cities like Peterborough – neglected cities that are void of the investment and opportunity they need and deserve.

The fact that a handful of Ministers have already announced their intention to resign under a Boris Johnson-led government illustrates that he’s totally incapable of uniting his own party, let alone the country.

In the coming months, I have no doubt that Johnson will be fanning the flames of division, playing duplicitous political games and deceiving the public about the damaging impact that his policies will have on cities like Peterborough. He may be the new Prime Minister, but he certainly does not speak for me.

First published in the Peterborough Telegraph.