Boris Johnson: I'm sad about lack of British interest in Ukraine
At an event for Ukrainian veterans at the country's London embassy this week, the former prime minister told The Telegraph: 'The interest in Ukraine and the appetite is so low nowadays. I find it quite sad.
'I mean, it sort of comes and goes, but it's number one for me. Number one.'
Asked about how he evaluated his successors as Tory leader and prime minister on Ukraine, Mr Johnson said: 'Britain continues to be very important in this. But if you talk to some of my Ukrainian friends, they'll say that perhaps we're not in quite the leadership, the thought leadership, role that we were.'
'There are a lot of domestic issues that are very difficult right now, and you can see why they're distracted, but I think this is a big opportunity for Britain.'
On a potential return to frontline politics, Mr Johnson added: 'I don't see any immediate way I can be particularly useful in British politics right now. But I think I can continue to talk about Ukraine.'
Mr Johnson met Ukrainian veterans at the embassy event, organised by DTEK, the largest private investor in Ukraine's energy sector. He was greeted with applause by the group, some of whom had been tortured after capture.
Asking about the soldiers' itinerary on their visit to Britain he said: 'I invited you to my pub in Somerset, but understandably that was too far.'
One of the trip's organisers told him 'there is also a cultural programme' for the soldiers to learn about Britain, to which the former PM responded 'that's the pub', provoking laughter from the crowd.
He is calling for European governments to seize the $300 billion of Russian assets frozen in Europe and send them to Ukraine, describing this as 'a down payment from Russia to Ukraine on the reparations that Russia will inevitably have to pay one day for what it has done'.
Mr Johnson claimed Donald Trump, the US president, was in favour of such a move, despite concerns that it could spook international investors. 'This is an idea that is attractive to Donald Trump. He would like to do it, but the Europeans need to step up,' he added.
It comes after Mr Johnson had said the best way for the Tories to counter Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, was to ignore him.
He repeated that call on Friday, saying: 'If you've got a problem with a political doppelganger, don't talk about them. That's my strong advice. What voters want to hear is what we're doing, what we Tories are offering for them, whether they're 16 or 102. They want to know what the Tory plans are.'
The most recent survey of voting intention by YouGov put Reform on 26 per cent, Labour on 24 per cent, and the Conservatives on 17.
Speaking days after Sir Keir Starmer announced plans to give the vote to 16-year-olds, Mr Johnson said there was 'no reason why they shouldn't be persuaded to vote Tory at all'.
Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, has said she would focus on rebuilding the trust of voters before developing a comprehensive set of policies for the party's next election manifesto.
Earlier this year she launched the Policy Renewal Programme and ditched the Conservatives' previous commitment to Net Zero by 2050 – a key pledge of Mr Johnson's Government.
On the news this week of the Afghanistan data leak under the Conservatives, Mr Johnson said it was 'absolutely right' to protect Afghans at risk of repercussions from the Taliban.
'I knew nothing about this,' he said of the leak and subsequent super-injunction. 'I think it is, in principle, absolutely right to protect those who have helped our country, at great risk to their own lives and the lives of their families. I think it's absolutely right to try to do that.'
Of the unprecedented super-injunction, which prevented journalists from reporting on the story or acknowledging the existence of the gagging order itself, Mr Johnson added: 'My first instinct would have been to use the D-notice process, but I don't know what the legal advice was.'
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