The videos showed a typical summit: Volodymyr Zelensky next to Ukraine’s flag and Boris Johnson next to the Union Flag. But there’s a difference. Johnson is no longer the prime minister and was visiting Kyiv as a private citizen – yet was greeted and treated like he was still calling the shots. A video of the meeting, with rousingly patriotic music, has been released. ‘I will do whatever I can’ says BoJo: but with what? In what capacity did his summit with Zelensky take place?
Some may see this in the context of an attempted Boris Johnson comeback, but in the leading article in this week’s Spectator we make the case for his defence. Every Prime Minister wants a legacy, and what does Johnson have? A stunning election victory, yes, but his lockdowns took a wrecking ball to ten years of Tory achievement on welfare and reducing educational inequality. When you think of what could have been, it’s a tragedy.
But Johnson’s position on Ukraine? Now, that’s a legacy. Working with Ben Wallace, who had become convinced in November 2021 that Putin would invade, Johnson was the only European leader to offer lethal arms to Zelensky. He appreciated before anyone else that the battle for democracy, which has been fought twice in the last century, was to be fought again. And that if Putin succeeded, and the West looked the other way as it did with the Minsk treaty which followed the annexation of Crimea, then it would send a global message that would embolden every dictator. So British weapons were sent and those put to good use in the crucial, opening days of the war. The Ministry of Defence and Foreign Office establishment were deeply uncomfortable with the UK being such an outlier, but Johnson pushed this through, by force of character. All of this was keenly felt and appreciated in Ukraine. And not forgotten.
I don’t think Johnson is out to cause mischief
There are three streets named after Johnson now. For a while, there were even Boris Johnson croissants (a meringue and a scoop of vanilla ice cream to represent his hair). He’s still regarded as hero in Ukraine, a true friend in a world of fake friends. My Ukrainian colleague Svitlana Morenets, when she arrived at The Spectator, could not believe that the UK was about to chuck out Johnson. Don’t we recognise a hero when we see one? Johnson went out on a limb for Ukraine at a time when no one else in Europe did: they will never forget that. Even if most Brits didn’t notice at the time.
I don’t think Johnson is out to cause mischief now. If he was planning a comeback, to strike after Sunak blows the local elections, he’d have a newspaper column that would give him a huge platform. Instead, he has signed a deal with Harper Collins to write his memoirs (you can bet he won’t be donating the money to charity in atonement, as David Cameron did) and other then attend the unveiling of his Carlton Club portrait he has been quiet. Even well-behaved. He was in Davos, but to talk about Ukraine. He might grumble to friends that the Tories exaggerated the extent to which throwing him out would improve their electoral prospects – but he found out last time that there isn’t much appetite for a Johnson second act. Yes, he gets attention. Like Trump, the universe tends to bend towards him. But unlike Trump, he’s not milking it.
If I were Sunak, I’d take Johnson’s interest in (and stature in) Ukraine as a chance to build bridges. Sunak has been rock-solid in defence of Ukraine, sending Challenger tanks at a time when Germany won’t (and joining Poland to put pressure on Germany). So why not make Johnson the special envoy to Ukraine? It’s an honorary position, but would honour his predecessor – and allow him to focus on the way that, when it mattered, Britain came down on the right side of history. It’s understandable for Johnson to wish to be remembered for that, and Sunak could do worse than grant him that wish with an honorary title.
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