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Boris under fire at home – and in Moscow
On February 10, the former British Conservative prime minister, Sir John Major, attacked the current occupant of 10 Downing Street, Boris Johnson, accusing him of undermining the UK’s credibility internationally at a key moment in the escalating crisis between Russia, Ukraine and the West.
Major’s rare criticism came with extraordinarily bad timing, just as Johnson was visiting Brussels for talks at Nato headquarters and also Warsaw to express solidarity with the populist government of Mateusz Morawiecki and inspect British troops sent there to bolster Poland against possible action by Vladimir Putin.
It was also bad news for Johnson’s foreign secretary Liz Truss, who was in Moscow on the same day to see her Russian counterpart, the veteran Sergei Lavrov, to discuss the possibility of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Truss let him know that the UK and their allies would impose punitive sanctions on Russia if any troops crossed the border with their neighbour.
The Truss-Lavrov meeting was characterized by journalists as “distinctly frosty.” And that was before the press conference where Lavrov described their encounter as “a deaf person speaking to a mute” – not a very diplomatic comment. Truss then icily described herself to attendees as “not a mute.”
The background to these tense meetings is the mounting anger with Johnson, supported loyally by Truss, and Major’s argument that by behaving irresponsibly at home the Tory premier has “shredded” Britain’s reputation among both its foreign allies and potential enemies.
That fury is about what is known collectively as “Partygate” (a lightly-coded reference to Watergate, which spelt the end of Richard Nixon’s presidency) a series of Downing Street and Whitehall parties in breach of the Covid lockdown restrictions made by Johnson’s own government.
The scandal is not only about making rules for England’s citizens and then politicians and civil servants ignoring them. It also involves Johnson’s blustery, irresponsible behavior in other areas, including Brexit – the controversial decision to leave the EU after 47 years. And his recent targeting, clearly under mounting pressure, of the Labour opposition leader Keir Starmer, who is benefitting from Johnson’s plummeting ratings.
In an aggressive speech in the House of Commons Johnson accused Starmer, director of public prosecutions at the time, of failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile, a famous disc jockey and TV presenter, and a serial sex offender. But as many people pointed out, Starmer was not personally responsible for that omission.
Johnson’s increasing number of enemies were horrified by that accusation. Most damaging was the resignation of his veteran policy adviser, Munira Mirza and her statement that his attack on Starmer “was an inappropriate and partisan reference to a horrendous case of child sex abuse." Johnson, however, refused to apologise.
Johnson also rejected Major’s attack as “demonstrably false” and insisted that his government “been working for months to warn people about what was happening - and I’m afraid we’ve been sadly proved right in what we were saying,” adding. “It’s the United Kingdom that has been working to bring countries together, not just in the sanctions package that we want to see, but also in making sure that we fortify Nato’s eastern frontier in the way that we are doing.”
Not everybody agrees with the prime minister. Many have criticised Johnson as ignorant, hapless and chaotic in his response to Putin. More substantially the prime minister has been condemned for following President Biden slavishly and as a post-Brexit leader sounding especially anti-European in terms of dealing with the worsening Ukraine crisis.
Johnson’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace even muttered about “a whiff of Munich” (the agreement with Adolf Hitler and Neville Chamberlain in 1938) - the embodiment of appeasement which paved the way for the horrors of world war two a year later.
Wallace didn’t mention any specific country by name but was likely referring to France, where President Emmanuel Macron has been actively suggesting a diplomatic way to head off Putin’s threat of attacking Ukraine. Macron’s remarks suggesting that the West should offer Russia new security guarantees have rung alarm bells in Whitehall.
British officials also criticised a French briefing proposing a “Finlandization” of Ukraine (i.e. forcing it to become neutral). But Macron has denied using the term. And Germany too, has also been criticised for prioritising its dependence on Russian energy supplies.
Vadym Prystaiko, Ukraine's ambassador to the UK, said the comparison of diplomatic efforts with Russia to appeasement of Hitler was unhelpful. "It's not the best time for us to offend our partners in the world, reminding them of this act which actually did not brought peace but the opposite - it bought war."
Starmer also reminded the British public that domestic politics and foreign and defence policy are strongly connected. On a visit to Nato headquarters in Brussels on the same day as Johnson he wrote a newspaper article attacking the far-left Stop the War movement. That movement is associated with Starmer’s predecessor as Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who was opposed to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
That was further evidence that Britain’s partisan conflicts at home only adds to the uncertainty of what will happen next in the Ukrainian confrontation.
BY: IAN BLACK
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- November 7, 2024
Amid growing anxiety among several European countries participating in NATO over Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte stated he looks forward to sitting down with Trump.
Upon arriving to participate in the summit of the European Political Community, which includes around forty heads of state in Budapest, he said, "I look forward to sitting with the elected U.S. president and seeing how we will collectively ensure we meet challenges, including the threats from Russia and North Korea." He also noted that the strengthening of ties between Russia and North Korea poses a threat to the United States as well, according to reports from Agence France-Presse.
Before Trump's victory, Rutte expressed confidence that a united Washington would remain part of the defensive alliance, even if Trump became the 47th president of the United States. In an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF last Monday night, he stated that both Republicans and Democrats understand that NATO serves not only the security of Europe but also that of America. He added that both candidates are aware that the security of the United States is closely tied to NATO.
On Wednesday, NATO congratulated Trump on his victory but did not address the Ukrainian issue.
It is noteworthy that the relationship between the elected U.S. president and the defense alliance was not the best during his first term in the White House. Trump criticized NATO member states multiple times and even hinted at withdrawing from the alliance unless they increased their financial contributions.
Additionally, the issue of the Russian-Ukrainian war is one of the matters that complicate relations between the two sides, especially since Trump has repeatedly stated that he can end this ongoing conflict, which began in 2022, quickly. He implied that he had a peace plan between Kyiv and Moscow, while his vice president, JD Vance, revealed aspects of that plan, which stipulated Ukraine's commitment not to join NATO, thereby sending reassuring signals to the Russians.
Furthermore, many NATO member states in Europe fear that Trump might halt military aid to Ukraine after he previously criticized the U.S. for pouring funds into supporting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
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