Musical Chairs: Boris Johnson as NATO Secretary General?

Boris Johnson, who submitted his resignation as the Prime Minister of Great Britain July 7, 2022, is being considered for Secretary General of NATO when the current chairman of the alliance leaves his post in September 2023.

According to the Telegraph, the candidacy of the British Prime Minister has been under consideration for some time, prompted by a mistrust of the USA among representatives of the European Union. Following the precipitous withdrawal of the US from Afghanistan, the European Union call for the creation of an EU army has resurfaced. In addition, Britain is trusted by the Baltic states, and Johnson has managed to win international recognition for building a coalition against Russia during a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Senior leaders of Britain’s Conservative Party support Johnson for the post.

Defense committee MP Richard Drax and MP Mark Francois support Johnson’s candidacy. According to Francois, if Johnson decided to submit his candidacy for the position of Secretary General of the alliance, he could easily turn to Volodymyr Zelenskyi for support.

Johnson is also supported by David Jones the former Minister of State for the Department for Exiting the European Union, commonly referred to as Brexit.

However, such an idea has opponents. The former head of the British army, Lord Richard Dannatt, said he could not support Johnson due to his character. In his opinion, there is no trust in the Prime Minister of Britain because of his dishonesty.

“Frankly, we do not want to put Boris Johnson on the international stage for further ridicule. He is the shame of the nation,” said Dannatt.

The position of Secretary General of NATO must be adopted unanimously and any country can impose a veto. French President Emmanuel Macron might veto such a vote.

After Johnson’s resignation two candidates have entered the final race to the September 5, 2022 election – the former head of the British Treasury Rishi Sunak and the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Liz Truss

Truss is an associate of Boris Johnson, who took a clear position against the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. Truss also called on Ukraine to hold peace talks with Russia only after the Kremlin’s military defeat.

“We need to ensure the defeat of Russia in Ukraine. This is necessary for European security, freedom and democracy. This is the only way to achieve lasting peace in Europe,” Truss emphasized on June 29 at the NATO summit in Madrid.

Liz Truss supported the initiative to confiscate Russian assets in favor of Ukraine.  According to her, the British government is already developing a mechanism that will regulate the distribution of blocked funds.

“I support the confiscation of assets of the Russian Federation in favor of Ukraine. We are looking at this very carefully. Canadians actually passed the law. This is an issue we are working on with the Home Office and the Treasury, but I certainly agree with the concept. We just need to figure out the details,” Truss elaborated on July 3.

Rishi Sunak, ex-Chancellor of the Treasury of Great Britain, resigned on July 5, 2022 over economic differences with Johnson, as well as the tone of the government’s conduct, according to a Bloomberg article.

Rishi’s wife Akshata Murthy was embroiled in a scandal at the end of March after the British opposition revealed that the businesswoman had a stake in the Indian multinational company Infosys, which continues to operate in Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. Rishi himself claims that he has no relation to the corporation.

However, the ex-chancellor publicly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He stressed that a full-scale war could have a negative impact on the UK economy.

“We know that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is creating significant economic uncertainty and we will continue to monitor its impact on the UK. It is vitally important that we stand with the people of Ukraine to uphold our shared values ​​of freedom and democracy, and that Putin be defeated,” Sunak said in an official address on March 11.

Boris Johnson plans to visit Ukraine for the last time before his resignation in September