Boris Johnson says Donald Trump is 'just what the world needs', and 'would not ditch the Ukrainians'
19 January 2024, 21:55
Boris Johnson has said that Donald Trump could be "just what the world needs" as he backed the former US president to return to the White House in November.
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Mr Johnson, who left Downing Street in July 2022, said that Mr Trump regaining the presidency "could be a big win for the world" if he backs Ukraine.
He hit out at the "global wokerati" for "trembling so violently" over the prospect of the outspoken Republican defeating Joe Biden.
Mr Trump, who recently took a first step back towards the White House by winning the Iowa primary in his bid to become the Republican candidate, has said that he would end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours.
Mr Johnson, who has been a major backer of Ukraine in their war effort against Russia, said he "simply cannot believe that Trump will ditch the Ukrainians".
Read more: Donald Trump vows to 'take back' US from Biden after landslide victory in Iowa
"On the contrary," he wrote in his column for the Daily Mail, "having worked out, as he surely has, that there is no deal to be done with Putin, I reckon there is a good chance that he will double down and finish what he started - by giving them what they need to win.
"If that is the case, then there is every chance, under Trump, that the West will be stronger, and the world more stable."
The former Prime Minister claimed that "what the world needs now is a US leader whose willingness to use force and sheer unpredictability is a major deterrent to the enemies of the West".
Following Mr Trump's comments about ending the war, Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday called on him to visit Kyiv.
The Ukrainian leader said: "Yes please, Donald Trump - I invite you to Ukraine."
"If you can stop the war during 24 hours I think it will be enough to come to Kyiv, on any day I am here," he told Channel 4 News.
Mr Johnson also admitted that Mr Trump, who is facing 91 felony charges across four criminal cases, has "been caught saying a few unguarded things".
But, he wrote, "I like his style", denying that Mr Trump is a "would-be dictator" despite his alleged role in encouraging his supporters to storm the US Capitol in a bid to keep him in power after his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden.
Mr Johnson mocked the "hysterics" at Mr Trump's status as the Republican front-runner and his recent win in the Iowa caucuses.
"In the cocktail parties of Davos, I am told, the global wokerati have been trembling so violently that you could hear the ice tinkling in their negronis," he wrote in the column.
Mr Johnson also claimed that Mr Trump is interested in "a proper free trade deal" with Brexit Britain, after hopes of a full-blown trade deal were abandoned last year.
