Hero status abroad will not heat OAPS’ homes
IT’S NOT the sort of question where you might need to phone a friend or even ask the audience. Faced with domestic problems that mirror the 2008 financial crash and have grim echoes of rampant inflation in the 1980s, ask yourself: if you were running the country, where would you rather be?
Inside No10 facing daily buffeting and surrounded by staff adept at racking up more penalties than a Euros football final play-off, or appearing “on the world stage” and burnishing the undoubted credentials of becoming a world statesman?
Last week there was more of the growing evidence that Boris Johnson feels that, at least for the moment, it makes a lot more sense to rack up the air miles overseas rather than face those tough yards at home.and I was granted exclusive access to witness it at first hand.
Every level-headed or independent commentator agrees the PM has led the world’s response to Vladimir Putin’s illegal and barbaric Ukraine war. He, and indeed the nation, have gone further and faster than any other country on the planet.
Somehow he even managed to stir US President “Sleepy” Joe Biden into action. Presumably he picked the sweet spot and called him after his afternoon nap and before his early supper and mug of cocoa before bed at six.
The achievements of Mr Johnson in getting Finland and Norway to sign mutual defence pacts cannot be underestimated. I travelled in the convoy with the PM from the airport to the presidential palace in Helsinki for the historic signing and the mood among the Downing Street team was totally upbeat.
Finland’s border with Russia runs more than 800 miles and tensions have historically been high. In 1939, Soviet forces invaded Finland but were held back for months. Ultimately though, Finland ceded 10 per cent of its territory despite its bloody resistance.
There is still conscription in Finland and it could rally an army of 280,000 by next week. That’s almost FOUR times the size of the British Army. With Finland in Nato, as looks likely, the alliance’s borders will stretch from Turkey to the Arctic Circle.
Little wonder the PM was smiling as he departed. His spirits would have been further bolstered by a group of Finnish bystanders chanting his name and even calling out: “We love you Boris” as he was whisked off. But once on the plane and having been ushered to the front for an exclusive interview for my weekday LBC breakfast show (above) the time was right to switch to matters back in
the UK. Was he running away from the issues at home? How would pacts with two Scandinavian nations help arrest the falling pound, soaring inflation and stunted growth? One report suggests five million children could be living in poverty by this winter, how does this trip help with that?
And as he’s handing out more than £2billion in aid and military kit to Ukraine while elderly folk in Britain are reportedly spending all day in libraries because they cannot afford to heat their homes, why is he so strong on support of Ukrainians and seemingly so poor on supporting his own?
In fairness, he took every question with good grace, however hostile. He even allowed me to interrupt his ceaseless flow of narrative on the odd occasion! But, the message was the same every time.
“We’ve done a lot already; there is more to come; I’ll ensure the nation recovers
from this as it did the pandemic; we’ll enjoy strong growth courtesy of postbrexit opportunities and the whole government is working night and day to put it right.”
Candidly, we’ve heard it all before and as a keen student of Latin the time for “carpe diem” has arrived. The day has to be seized now and a proper plan – even if it comes with a caveat with regard to when it will start – has to become a reality and not just a series of words.
As the flight entered UK airspace, Boris looked out of the window and smiled as he approached home turf. Without a doubt, this is the land he loves. But he must ask himself this: on our trip he was cheered in Sweden and Finland, but would he currently get the same treatment in Swindon and Finchley?
THE fact that police are to be given new powers to crack down on eco zealots who glue themselves to roads, smash petrol pumps or block bridges is to be welcomed.
However, even a cursory glance at current laws shows police already have the necessary powers to break up these self-indulgent demos.
The troubling reality is this: police COULD stop these damaging protests now, but instead they have been reshaped into a social services team with truncheons and hi-vis vests that hand out blankets to lawbreakers.
It’s not new laws that are needed. Rather a return of the old-fashioned, commonsense cop.