The crisis that Boris Johnson has reached may mean the end of his political career, but it has also inflicted severe damage on the UK’s global position when it can least afford it. Think about what you like about the questionable management of Mr. Johnson of the various Downing Street scandals, but on the key international issue of the day, the war in Ukraine, the Prime Minister has demonstrated the much-needed clarity of purpose and vision.
The tragedy of Mr. Johnson’s situation is that, were it not for his obvious ignorance of the accuracy of the facts, he would have found himself celebrated as a statesman. At both the recent G7 and NATO summits, it was instrumental in ensuring that world leaders showed a united front in their support for Ukraine, while pledging to provide vital military supplies, as well as encouraging our allies to do the same.
The arrival, for example, of the first batch of the eight US-promised M142 (Himars) high-mobility artillery rocket systems is already having a decisive impact on the battlefield. They are said to have been responsible for a massive attack earlier this week on a Russian-occupied air base in Melitopol, southeastern Ukraine. The Himar have a greater scope and accuracy than anything previously available to both Ukrainians and Russians, and Kyiv believes that the supply of sophisticated weapons of this caliber will help turn the tide of war in their favor.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, has certainly shown his gratitude for Mr Johnson, hailing him as a “great guy” who will “go down in history” for supporting Ukraine in its time of need. The position of Mr. Johnson in world affairs, moreover, has been enhanced by the lackluster performance of other key allies.
It is doubtful that the reputation of French President Emmanuel Macron will ever recover from his flattering flattery to Vladimir Putin, and Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, still struggles with the idea that Moscow is solely responsible for the Ukraine conflict. Meanwhile, Washington’s ability to fulfill its traditional leadership role in the Western alliance is constantly undermined by President Joe Biden’s blunders, such as its inability to distinguish between Sweden and Switzerland.
By contrast, Mr. Johnson has shown a willingness to pull his neck. At the start of the war, when Germany showed an alarming lack of awareness of the severity of the Ukraine crisis by closing its airspace to military shipments, Johnson was at the forefront of efforts to provide support to Ukrainian forces. . It is questionable whether Mr Zelensky would be alive today if it were not for the thousands of NLAW anti-tank weapons that the UK sent to Ukraine. They proved essential to thwart Moscow’s assault on Kyiv which was to result in the assassination of the Ukrainian leader and the installation of a prorus puppet regime.
The moral support that Mr. Johnson from senior ministers such as Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace and Foreign Minister Liz Truss suggests that even without the leadership of the Prime Minister, Britain will continue to play a prominent role in the Ukraine crisis. Whoever follows Mr. Johnson, however, may not have the same appetite for risk, nor the willingness to make an extra effort on behalf of Kyiv.
But needless to say, any Conservative leader would do a better job than the current group of opposition candidates struggling to take over Downing Street. Sir Keir Starmer might be desperate to demonstrate his commitment to the NATO alliance, but the same cannot be said of other powerful factions of the Labor movement, many of whom claim to be NATO, not Russia. ultimately responsible for provoking Ukraine. conflict through its policy of eastward expansion.
The anti-NATO visceral sentiments of hard-left Labor MPs forced Sir Keir to intervene earlier in the conflict after former Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott and former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell put their names on a letter drafted by the quasi-Marxist coalition Stop the War. criticizing NATO involvement. They only withdrew their names after Sir Keir threatened to whip out the whip.
Former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn, whose whip has already been removed, kept his name on the letter. His pro-Russian sympathies are well documented: his was a lone voice criticizing the British government’s blunt response to the 2018 Kremlin poisoning of Russian deserter Sergei Skripal in Salisbury.
The Scottish Nationalist Party is another prominent opposition party, one that could support a future Labor-led administration, struggling to find fault with Putin’s despotic regime. The post-political career of its former leader, Alex Salmond, as a collaborator of the Kremlin-controlled Russia Today only ended when Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP colleagues have complained about the level of aid Ukraine is receiving from the British government.
Mr. Johnson may have his flaws, but, at least as far as the question of Ukraine is concerned, he has demonstrated the qualities of a true statesman.