No choice but to send in the jets

AS THE political obituaries were being written for the doomed premiership of Boris Johnson last year, there was one thing upon which all parties were agreed even Labour.

The undeniable highlight of his tenure was being among the first to alert the world to the horrors of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, and then going on to rally the response from the West. While he might have struggled with Prosecco, he had Vladimir Putin’s number from the very beginning and helped ensure vital military kit was promptly despatched to the front.

As a result, while this former prime minister and first lord of the Treasury might struggle to raise a smile in Keighley, he’d be mobbed in Kyiv.

Be in no doubt: without Johnson’s farsightedness and ceaseless gentle hustling of other world leaders, Putin’s tanks would have rumbled across most of Ukraine many months ago, and his renewed attention to the conflict comes at just the right time.

Of course, being in the spotlight is also not doing him any harm as the Conservative Party continues to be its very own worst enemy and slumps in the polls.

But his plea to supply fighter jets to Ukraine, as President Volodymyr Zelensky has requested, surely makes sense.