Until his ignominious fall this week, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson could count on unstinting support from at least one quarter: Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed to be “very happy” last month when a flailing Johnson won, narrowly, a vote of no-confidence in his leadership of the Tory party.
Only this week Johnson was dialing the Ukrainian leader's phone number after being caught lying about his promotion of a serial groper — the scandal that finally brought him down. Indeed, strategically timed conversations with Zelenskyy had become Johnson’s preferred distraction from his scandal-battered government in recent weeks.
It is not clear what was discussed in these numerous conversations. As the columnist Simon Jenkins wrote, “All we know is that on almost every occasion, Johnson conjures from the air another tranche of British taxpayers’ money in aid for Ukraine.”
