Ukraine’s official Twitter DELETES post backing Boris Johnson to be new Prime Minister

Russia said on Friday it was not expecting any ‘political wisdom’ from Britain in response to Boris Johnson’s possible return as the country’s Prime Minister.

After Johnson’s successor Liz Truss resigned on Thursday, there is mounting speculation that he could again be elected leader of the Conservative Party – and return to Downing Street for a second stint at the pinnacle of British politics.

But Moscow, which was also scathing in its assessment of Truss in the hours after she resigned in London, offered a withering view on Johnson’s possible return.

‘We cannot expect any insights or political wisdom from anyone in the West now… especially from Great Britain, where the current head of the executive is not elected by the people,’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Johnson, an outspoken supporter of Ukraine in the conflict with neighbouring Russia, was ousted from the premiership in July, amid a wave of scandals. At the time, Russian media and officials celebrated news of his departure.

Meanwhile, Ukraine deleted a tweet backing Johnson to return as Prime Minister, after the country’s official Twitter account released a statement which read: ‘Better call Boris’ – along with a graphic done in the style of TV show ‘Better Call Saul’.

The post went up on Thursday, but by Friday, the account had deleted the tweet from its feed. It was not clear why the tweet had been removed.

While a polarising figure at home, Johnson had become a popular personality in Ukraine since the country was invaded by Russia in February.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Johnson shared a particularly close relationship during the former PM’s time in office, owing primarily to his outspoken support of Ukraine after the Vladimir Putin ordered his troops across the border.

Throughout Johnson’s messy departure from No10, Zelensky hailed him as a ‘true friend’ who ‘acted swiftly and resolutely’ to offer support during the crisis.

Zelensky, who met the former PM several times, said the UK was his country’s ‘dearest friend and closest ally’ under Johnson, and praised the PM’s ‘courage and determination’ in championing support for the beleaguered country.

‘At every meeting and conversation Boris had one very good question, ‘What else? What else do you need?’,’ he said. ‘It became our watchword, guaranteeing effective progress and movement forward.’ Now, it’s looking possible the pair will be able to continue their professional relationship.  

On Thursday, Russian took one last swipe at Truss following her resignation, saying she was a ‘disgrace’ of a leader who would be remembered for her ‘catastrophic illiteracy’.

‘Britain has never known such a disgrace of a prime minister,’ Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. ‘The catastrophic illiteracy and the queen’s funeral immediately after her audience with Liz Truss will be remembered.’

The claim of illiteracy appeared to refer to Truss’s visit to Moscow in February before Russia invaded Ukraine, when Truss was British foreign minister.In a meeting with Russia’s veteran foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, she appeared to confuse two regions of Russia with Ukraine, triggering widespread mockery in Russian media.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev wrote on Twitter: ‘Bye, bye @trussliz, congrats to lettuce’, referring to the British Daily Star tabloid’s days-long livestream asking whether Truss’ troubled premiership would outlast the shelf-life of a lettuce.

Truss’ resignation attracted extensive and gleeful coverage on Russian state TV.

A guest on the political talkshow ‘Time Will Tell’ said Truss had possessed the three traits needed to thrive in British politics: ‘Stupidity, arrogance, and belligerence’.

Truss has been the target of withering comments from Moscow since she visited in February as part of a fruitless drive by Western politicians to the invasion of Ukraine. 

Russian officials took a dim view of Truss’s premiership from the outset and have revelled in her numerous gaffes. 

Upon her appointment in September, Lavrov said Truss did not know how to compromise and questioned how the British leader could say she did not know whether French President Emmanuel Macron was a ‘friend or foe’.

Zakharova also on Thursday mocked Truss’ high-profile photo shoot in Estonia last year, where she donned a flak jacket and helmet to ride in a tank during a visit to British troops stationed in the Baltic country.  

Relations between Moscow and London have deteriorated for years, over issues such as the 2018 poisoning of a former Russian spy in Salisbury. They have reached record lows since Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine.

The UK is one of Kyiv’s staunchest supporters in the fact of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and Russia considers it as one of the most unfriendly Western countries.

Twitter is alight with debate on both sides of the argument. While many are excited at the thought of Johnson’s triumphant return to the top job, others have voiced concerns. ‘The country needs stability, not scandal,’ one critic said.

‘Integrity, market confidence, support for the most needy. Oh and there’s no money left thanks to him and Truss. Johnson is not anything that this country needs.’

Another said: ‘Boris Johnson?! Are you having a laugh? Picking a new Tory leader is like picking the best toilet on the last day of a festival.’

The hashtag #BringBackBoris was trending on social media with hundreds of voters voicing their support for the axed PM.

Johnson’s face was superimposed onto multiple snippets of scenes from the Top Gun movies in order to depict him as the hero the UK needs to escape this mess.

One of his supporters said: The country never lost confidence in Boris. The party did. It’s time he returned.’

Another added: ‘Boris is on his way back to save the UK, he’ll rise from the ashes like a phoenix. And we will all live happily ever after.’

With a quarter of MPs declaring support for their preferred candidates, Johnson currently counts 50 backers, compared to Rishi Sunak’s 39 and Penny Mourdant’s 17, according to the latest tally by Guido Fawkes.

It comes after the Conservative Party announced would-be successors would need to win nominations from 100 MPs to get on the ballot.

The threshold means that realistically a maximum of three can make it into a vote, and that there could be a simple coronation of a winner if they get far more than that.

While Johnson has been publicly backed by some MPs to run to return to power, including his former culture secretary Nadine Dorries, several others said they don’t believe he will reach the threshold.

One said the ‘brutal truth’ is he is likely to get no more than 60 – leaving some of his close friends to advise him not to run. He also remains on holiday in the Caribbean and faces a race against time to return and launch an effective campaign.

However in a boost to his chances, the final two candidates will go head-to-head in a final online vote by party members next Friday.

Johnson remains popular with the Tory grassroots and could win such a vote, and allies say he would be able to ‘honestly say’ he has a mandate for government, and has the ability to ‘turn the tide and avert the disaster of a Labour government’.

But it remains unclear whether he can reach the 100 threshold, or whether a figure from the Tory right could stand and risk splitting the vote.

The technicalities of the party vote has not stopped the public from voicing an opinion.

It comes as Truss was relentlessly mocked on Twitter last night after her humiliating resignation.

Her 44 days in office made her the shortest serving prime minister in UK history. 

Speaking from a lectern in Downing Street this afternoon, Truss said she had told the King she was resigning as the leader of the Conservative Party as she recognised she ‘cannot deliver the mandate’ which she committed to a little over six weeks ago.

She held talks with the chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservatives, Sir Graham Brady, and agreed to a fresh leadership election ‘to be completed within the next week’.

‘This will ensure that we remain on a path to deliver our fiscal plan and maintain our country’s economic stability and national security,’ she added.

‘I will remain as Prime Minister until a successor has been chosen.’

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer demanded a general election ‘now’ so that the nation can have ‘a chance at a fresh start’.

Without a general election, the Conservatives will be on their third prime minister on the mandate won by Boris Johnson in December 2019.

Sir Keir said: ‘The Conservative Party has shown it no longer has a mandate to govern. The British public deserve a proper say on the country’s future. They must have the chance to compare the Tories’ chaos with Labour’s plans to sort out their mess, grow the economy for working people and rebuild the country for a fairer, greener future.

‘We must have a chance at a fresh start. We need a general election – now.’

Truss’s resignation came just a little over 24 hours after she told MPs she was ‘a fighter, not a quitter’.

But her odds of survival were slashed following chaotic scenes in the Commons after the resignation of Suella Braverman as home secretary.

The number of Tory MPs publicly demanding Truss’s resignation doubled before lunch was over on Thursday, taking the total to 15, but a far greater number were privately agitating for her exit.

The pound lifted on the resignation announcement following another volatile 24 hours for the currency amid political turmoil.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: ‘We don’t need another Conservative Prime Minister lurching from crisis to crisis. We need a general election now and the Conservatives out of power.’