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LONDON and KYIV — Britain is on its third prime minister of 2022 — but Rishi Sunak insists nothing has changed in his country’s undying support for Ukraine.
In his first address to the nation as U.K. prime minister Tuesday, Sunak pledged to place “economic stability” at the heart of his new government’s agenda and warned of “difficult decisions” ahead on spending.
But in a bid to reassure a Kyiv still pining for its departed ally Boris Johnson — as well as to shore up pro-defense Tory MPs — Sunak firmly committed to supporting the British armed forces and said the “terrible” war in Ukraine “must be seen successfully to its conclusion.”
His decision Tuesday evening to reinstate Ben Wallace and James Cleverly — both ex-military men — as defense and foreign secretary respectively was designed as a clear signal he will maintain continuity in Britain’s approach to global affairs. Neither man backed Sunak in his successful leadership bid, but Wallace in particular has impressed NATO allies with his clear-sighted approach to the war on Europe’s eastern border.
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Tellingly, Sunak’s first call with a foreign leader was with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Tuesday night, to tell him that the U.K.’s support will remain “as strong as ever under his premiership,” according to a readout from Downing Street. Zelenskyy in turn said the conversation had been “excellent,” signaling the U.K.’s “full support in the face of Russian aggression.”
The new prime minister, however, is yet to set out his plans for Britain’s defense budget, with next week’s all-important fiscal statement likely to signal the start of a long program of spending cuts as he tries to restore confidence in the U.K. public finances.
Sunak had already signed off one boost to U.K. defense spending before he resigned as Johnson’s chancellor in July. But throughout the summer he refused to endorse his leadership rival Liz Truss’ pledge to further up the budget, to 3 percent of GDP by 2030 — a figure endorsed by Wallace — arguing he did not want to set “arbitrary targets.” Tory MPs who pressed him again this week to commit to the 3 percent target said he refused to do so.
“That shows he’s going to put what, in his mind, is the security of the country’s finances before building up the armed forces — at a moment of war in Europe and looming tensions in the Pacific,” said Ben Judah, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank.
Speculation around the defense budget has fueled whispers of concern in Kyiv, where senior officials are publicly calling for closer ties with Britain.
Earlier in the year allies of Johnson — at the height of a feud between the two men — pushed rumors that Sunak was less committed to the war than his former boss. In April the Sunday Times suggested Sunak believed a deal would one day have to be done with Russian President Vladimir Putin — though Sunak has never made any such suggestion in public.
Zelenskyy congratulated Sunak on Tuesday, and said he was “ready to continue strengthening the Ukrainian-British strategic partnership together.”
Privately, however, the mood is less upbeat. A bizarre meme expressing support for Boris Johnson’s return as prime minister appeared on the Ukrainian government’s official Twitter account after Truss resigned last week — before being swiftly deleted.
And a source close to the Ukrainian government lamented that Sunak has said “virtually nothing about defending Europe except that there will be budget cuts in national defense [compared with Truss’ long-term plans].”
A Baltic ambassador to the U.K. said it was “important” for the region to see Sunak sticking to the 3 percent target, and warned “his credentials are not in foreign policy and defense.” Sunak’s immediate predecessors in Downing Street, Truss and Johnson, had both served as foreign secretary before entering No. 10.
Other European allies are already resigned to a scaling-back of the boost to the U.K. defense budget, but do not believe the rise of Sunak will see Britain actively change course.
“Given the fact that the [U.K.] economic situation is so bad, all sectors will probably have to play their part [in spending cuts],” an EU diplomat said. “But there’s no split in the [Conservative] party when it comes to the fundamentals of how to act in Ukraine.”
Britain’s approach to Russia and China will be set out in a refresh of the government’s Integrated Review of security, defense and foreign policy, initiated by Truss, which looks set to continue under Sunak’s leadership.
The new prime minister, who cut his teeth as a hedge fund manager at the City of London before his career in politics, “is very much going to bring a Treasury mindset toward foreign policy into the office of prime minister,” Judah predicted, adding the few times Sunak has expressed views on international affairs have always been “through an economic lens.”
“He’s not very interested in foreign policy,” he added. “He’s interested in the economy, finances, Britain’s ability to be kind of a start-up nation … and stabilising the markets at a difficult time.”
Sunak could yet travel to Kyiv for his first foreign trip as PM, having expressed an interest in doing so last summer in a bid to show he would not deviate from the direction set by Johnson and Truss.
Dreaming of BoJo
In Ukraine, however, it is Sunak’s former boss — and deadly rival — Johnson whose departure as prime minister is still lamented far and wide. His brief, abortive attempt at a comeback last week further disappointed fans.
“Johnson simply cannot fail to be loved by Ukrainians,” said 33-year-old Mykhailo Mykhailov, the owner of the newly opened ‘Boris Johnson’ pub in the western city of Lutsk.
“He’s extravagant. He rides a bike, drinks beer, throws parties. The British don’t like this, but we [Ukrainians] see the overall picture. It appeals to Ukrainian youth. He’s a dude that we can relate to.”
Mykhailov, a refugee from eastern Ukraine, has decorated the walls of his pub with numerous portraits of the former British PM.
“Also Johnson impresses older people,” he added. “That he was not afraid to come to Ukraine, that he supports us very much. And we love those who are with us.”
Ukraine’s former Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin attributed Johnson’s popularity among millions of Ukrainians to the fact that former British premier “did not make any sophisticated calculations, but consistently went forward [in his support for Ukraine] … both politically and emotionally.”
“He didn’t act like a typical Western politician — cautious, prudent, with deliberate wording,” Klimkin added. “He is not perceived by Ukrainians as a typical Western politician. He is perceived as a friend of Ukraine.”
The dateline of this article has been corrected.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiVGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnBvbGl0aWNvLmV1L2FydGljbGUvcmlzaGktc3VuYWstY29tbWl0LXVrcmFpbmUta3lpdi1kcmVhbS1ib3Jpcy1qb2huc29uL9IBWGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnBvbGl0aWNvLmV1L2FydGljbGUvcmlzaGktc3VuYWstY29tbWl0LXVrcmFpbmUta3lpdi1kcmVhbS1ib3Jpcy1qb2huc29uL2FtcC8?oc=5
2022-10-26 02:15:00Z
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