And Even More Attention Seeking

[gulliver1]

Why is Boris Johnson in Ukraine this weekend ?????
Doesn't he realise he is no longer Pm.

[Stableford]

Every credit to Boris for his support for visiting Kyiv on Zelensky's invitetion and his support for the Ukrainian people. We should be supporting them as much as we can in their hour of need.

[ichkeria]

Indeed so.

I would have thought in any case, especially as he is no longer PM, that this sort of visit was just the sort of publicity otherwise he'd be keen to avoid given the other stuff going on.

[Khandro]

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.

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 [including gulliver] didn’t notice at the time.

Spectator today

[ABSpareEditor]

Thread amended.

[rowanwitch]

Some leaders are better in war than peace, Without an enemy to focus on they seem unable to do the day to day and if those below them are not up to the mark they can fail in quieter times.
Churchill was one, and then when Margaret Thatcher had the Unions, and Argentinians to fight, and later the verbal battles with the collapsing Soviet union she was at her brilliant best. She was never going to be a bread and butter leader.
Considering the speed at which information and circumstances changed and the fact every government everywhere was forced to make decisions almost blind at times I don't think Boris was that bad over the worst of the Covid crisis, but I agree that over Ukraine he was far better than many expected.
Unfortunately I do suspect he has a significant character flaw that will always get him in trouble whatever he does. It's a shame that it means we can't have the best of him without his arrogant sense of being immune from the constraints of rules and regulations. We need leaders who can think outside the box, not those who think it's ok to chuck the box in the bin and get their friends to give them a different one they like better.

[naomi24]

Khandro 10.25. Good post.

[ZebuSanctuary]

// three streets named after Johnson now //

匚ㄩㄥ- D乇- 丂卂匚丂?

[ichkeria]

“Some leaders are better in war than peace, Without an enemy to focus on they seem unable to do the day to day and if those below them are not up to the mark they can fail in quieter times. ”

It’s exactly what I feel about Johnson.
By the way there’s a lemonade in Khmel’nitskiy named after him too.
And more besides I don’t doubt

[Untitled]

“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.“

is there any proof that this is actually true?

[webbo3]

Beer korma is in Davos and he's not the PM.

[douglas9401]

He's there to curry favour, webbo.

[gulliver1]

Webbo @18.24,,,, Boris is now just a backbencher who should be doing the job of looking after his constituents at Uxbridge and south Ruislip, doing the job he is paid to do. Not Quaffing Champagne at Davos or attention seeking to boost his ego in Ukrain .

[Khandro]

gulliver, //Boris is now just a backbencher who should be doing the job of looking after his constituents at Uxbridge and south Ruislip, doing the job he is paid to do.//

Unless you are one of those constituents that has nothing whatsoever to do with you.
It was they who voted him in & it is they who can, if the majority wish it, vote him out.

[Peter Pedant]

Some leaders are better in war than peace, (churchill)

Alan Clark Tory MP, author and lover of many women was invited to speak on a subject of his choosing and suggested

Churchill - terrible war leader, much better peace time leader (!)

deemed too much for an audience
War disasters: Gallipoli 1916, Italian invasion1942, ?crete
but you then have to argue(civil) that going back to Gold 1931 was economic wisdom, and altho Siege of Sidney St 1914 was OK, police bombing of Iraq 1920 was as well ( it wasnt)

argiung the contrary is not too foo-foo for the average ABer is it?

ANyway Boris - perhaps one os his distant relations ( Armenian this time) introduced them? I think we should be told

[Khandro]

“Boris infuriates dull people. So dull people get frightfully upset that somebody who’s much more interesting than them, cleverer than them, has been so much more successful. They’re worthy and decent and dull.”


Rees-Mogg on his monthly ConservativeHome podcast