Boris’s Christmas boost for our boys in the Baltic
Triumphant PM’s speech to troops – in front of a tank named after his hero Churchill
BORIS JOHNSON channelled his hero Winston Churchill yesterday as he served Christmas lunch to British troops manning Nato’s faultline with Russia in the Baltic.
Standing next to a Challenger 2 tank named after the wartime leader, the Prime Minister thanked the soldiers from the Queen’s Royal Hussars – Churchill’s old regiment – for the sacrifices which their service in Estonia entailed.
Buoyed by his Election victory – and the passage of his Brexit legislation through the Commons on Friday after months of Parliamentary gridlock – Mr Johnson told troops at the Tapa military base, near Estonia’s capital Tallinn: ‘Everybody in our country is going to be celebrating Christmas with their families and you’re going to be here – a long way away, a pretty cold place... What you’re doing is incredibly important because the reason everybody in our country can have Christmas in peace and security is because of what you’re doing here.’
The base is home to 850 British troops – the UK’s largest operational deployment in Europe – who lead the Nato battlegroup defending Estonia’s eastern border with Russia, along with personnel from Estonia, France and Denmark.
Mr Johnson addressed the troops before posing for selfies and donning a red apron to dish out turkey in the base’s canteen.
He told the soldiers that they were the ‘most vivid and powerful expression’ that Britain is committed to the security and stability of the whole of Europe.
He added: ‘What you’re doing is showing Nato works and that it’s an alliance to which we in our country are absolutely committed.’
However, he slightly marred the Churchillian rhetoric by asking one soldier: ‘Are you enjoying it here?’ before pointing to the grey northern skies and the gathering dusk and saying: ‘It’s quite sort of bleak, isn’t it?’
Mr Johnson, who was met by the Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas, told troops: ‘It’s an incredible thing for me to come to Estonia because when I was a kid – when I was your age – Estonia was part of the Soviet Union and we’re now here helping to protect Estonia’s security.
‘It’s a fantastic thing and it’s a deeply moving thing for someone from my generation.’
The Prime Minister added: ‘Thank you very much for what you’re doing. I hope you have a very, very peaceful, happy time and have a happy Christmas everybody.’
During the visit, Mr Johnson defended the controversial £4 billion takeover of UK defence and aerospace company Cobham by a US
‘A vivid and powerful expression of Britain’s commitment to Nato’
private equity firm. The Government approved the sale of Cobham to Advent International on Friday after the deal was delayed because of national security concerns.
Mr Johnson insisted: ‘I think it’s very important that the UK should have an open and dynamic market economy.
‘A lot of checks have been gone through to make sure that in that particular case all the security issues that might be raised can be satisfied and the UK will continue to be a very, very creative and dynamic contributor to that section of industry and all others’.