Brexit has made Britain the leading power in Europe
BOLDLY leading global reaction throughout the Ukraine crisis, Boris Johnson has repeatedly outplayed Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin on every front, culminating with the Prime Minister signing military alliances with Sweden and Finland, edging them towards joining Nato after decades of neutrality.
Boris has acted faster and to greater effect than the leaders of any other major powers in Europe, demonstrating clearly the benefits of freedom from the ponderous EU.
While French President Emmanuel Macron tried to negotiate with the Kremlin despot and Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz dragged his feet on cutting his nation’s dependency on Russian energy, the PM has shown courage and speed to make Britain the leading European power to arm Ukrainians and to impose embargoes on Russian trade.
Without doubt, British missiles and aid have been key in enabling Ukraine to fight back against the invading Russian war machine to the point where top UK military experts now consider they may even win the David versus Goliath struggle.
IF PUTIN thought conquest of Ukraine would discourage nations from joining Nato, he has shot himself in the foot as his soldiers’ barbaric behaviour encouraged Sweden and Finland to apply for membership of the military union.
By swiftly signing our own military alliance with the Nordic countries, Boris achieved a diplomatic coup, creating the nightmare Putin feared of a long land frontier directly on his border bristling withWestern weaponry.
By failing so conspicuously to capture Kyiv and depose Volodymyr Zelensky, and with his troops performing badly on battlefields in the east, Putin has discovered his corrupt military forces do not have the capability to stand up to the professional armies of Nato. All they can do is trash a country and kill its civilian population.
Faced by Nato forces and their superior weaponry they would surely crumble. Such a reality has meant that Putin is reduced to evoking the horror of nuclear conflict to deter any furtherWestern intervention.
Russia is not the military power we once feared in the Cold War and Boris’s swift support of Ukraine has been key to exposing that weakness.
Yet even now, France and Germany are keen to bring Ukraine to the peace table and accept Russian conquests when, with further aid, Zelenksy could possibly rid his country completely of the invaders.
The main drive of the two leading EU states is self-interest for the survival of their economies, deprived of Russian energy and money, whereas
Boris believes national sovereignty is non-negotiable. His moral superiority on this front is a guiding light for European liberty just as Churchill’s pugnacious resistance was in the Second World War.
It may seem trivial, but the outpouring of popular support for the UK during last weekend’s Eurovision song contest – frequently a snap poll of European sentiment – confirmed our current favoured position in this time of crisis.
Having dominated the international stage so effectively, we should be reinforcing our European leadership with domestic decisions to match.
The EU needs an alternative supply of gas and oil and it is shocking to hear this week that National Grid fears it cannot accept shipments of liquid natural gas from abroad because of a shortage of storage capacity.
That could and should be rectified quickly to enable us to be the main provider of energy to our European neighbours. This would boost our economy and give the EU the energy protection it desperately needs.
WE ARE in a perfect position to import gas and oil and indeed generate our own energy from shale gas and the North Sea to put us in a commanding position as Europe’s number one supplier, creating the prosperity to get us out of our cost-of-living crisis.
Boris should replicate the same courage and decisiveness he has shown in Ukraine to protect and enrich his own country.
That conflict has revealed the path we must take to achieve complete leadership in Europe. Energy independence should be our number one priority and in that way we can help both Europe and ourselves.
As Winston Churchill once said: “He who controls oil will win the next war.” Boris should take his cue from that and lead Britain towards energy prosperity and security.
‘Eurovision confirmed our current favoured position in this crisis‘