Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Russia trolls no-go Bojo
Putin’s embassy taunts Johnson over canned Moscow trip in sick tweet Foreign Secretary ‘was told’ to stand down by White House
BORIS Johnson was shunted off to the sidelines of world affairs yesterday – by both Russia AND America.
The Foreign Secretary came in for a hammering from each superpower after suddenly calling off a trip to Moscow.
First, diplomatic sources said he had been leaned on by Washington to stand aside and let US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson go to the Russian capital instead.
Next, the Russian embassy taunted him with a jokey tweet suggesting he felt “safer” staying among other Western nations sending him a link to the 1812 Overture. The rousing piece of classical music by the composer Tchaikovsky is a fanfare to historic Russian military might.
Then, to add insult to Mr Johnson’s injury, he was ridiculed at home for being a “poodle” to the White House.
Lib Dem leader Tim Farron, who ac- cused him of “having his diary managed from across the Pond”, said: “It is pretty shameful when even Trump judges you to be a buffoon.”
Mr Johnson had been due to fly out today ahead of talks with officials from President Vladimir Putin’s government tomorrow.
He was scheduled to share a working lunch and press conference with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Mr Johnson was also due to meet UK busiand
ness leaders and Russian human rights activists before flying home. But his visit was axed after US missile strikes in response to Syria’s use of chemical weapons plunged the diplomatic situation into crisis – with sources saying pressure from the White House led to his decision. The Russian embassy fuelled embarrassment over the incident by tweeting: “Boris Johnson cancelled his visit to Moscow: theatrics for lack of argument? Safer in G7 pack? Listen to our soft power response:”
The tweet was followed by the 1812 link. Mr Johnson insisted the strikes in Syria had “changed the situation fundamentally” and that he was now concentrating on the meeting of foreign ministers from the G7 nations in Italy next week.
He said he had discussed “in detail” his plans with Secretary Tillerson and they had agreed the American should go to Moscow first. Sources close to Mr Johnson denied he had bowed to Washington pressure and that he was “relaxed” about who made the trip.
But Mr Farron said: “Is this what taking back control looks like? Our Government quick to blindly follow every order from the White House? Boris has revealed himself to be a poodle.”
keir.mudie@trinitymirror.co.uk