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Welsh Government minister slams Boris Johnson as ‘sick, pompous narcissist’ after he compares Brexit to Ukraine

20 Mar 2022 2 minute read
“Mick Antoniw, MS for Pontypridd” by European Committee of the Regions is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. Boris Johnson. Picture by Cancillería Argentina (CC BY 2.0).

A Welsh Government minister who has family in Ukraine has slammed Boris Johnson as a “sick, pompous narcissist” after he compared the struggle of the people of Ukraine against invasion to the UK’s vote for Brexit.

The Prime Minister made the controversial comments at the Conservative spring conference.

“I know that it’s the instinct of the people of this country, like the people of Ukraine, to choose freedom every time,” Boris Johnson said.

“I can give you a couple of famous recent examples. When the British people voted for Brexit in such large numbers, I don’t believe it was that they were remotely hostile to foreigners.

“It’s because they wanted to be free to do things differently and for this country to be able to run itself.”

Wales’ Consul General Mick Antoniw, who travelled to Ukraine before the war and will be taking in Ukrainian family members into his home, responded to his comments.

“I don’t expect any better from this rather sick, pompous narcissist,” he said.

‘Tawdry’

Boris Johnson’s comments have been greeted with fury by many, with some of his own Conservative MPs and Lords joining in the condemnation.

“If we are to ultimately defeat Putin we require international leadership and unity,” Tory MP Tobias Ellwood said.

“Comparing the Ukrainian people’s fight against Putin’s tyranny to the British people voting for Brexit damages the standard of statecraft we were beginning to exhibit.”

Donald Tusk, the former president of the European Council, also called the comments offensive.

Guy Verhofstadt, the former prime minister of Belgium who was the European Parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator, said the comparison was “insane”.

The Prime Minister’s comments hit a particularly discordant note given that Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has called on the EU to grant the country membership.

Welsh actor Michael Sheen also responded to the comments, saying: “Because nothing matters. Nothing at all. Except himself. Everything, everyone a commodity – the young, the old, Ukraine’s horrors, Brexit itself. Just there to be used.

“Stripped of all meaning and forced into being tawdry displays in the shop window of Johnson’s vacuous career.”


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Arwyn
Arwyn
2 years ago

Just leave the UK and we won’t have to be governed by a loathsome Tory Party whom the Welsh electorate have never once furnished with a majority in Wales at any national election … ever. Labour’s Unionism extends Tory governance over Wales. End it now.

Last edited 2 years ago by Arwyn
Arwyn
Arwyn
2 years ago
Reply to  Arwyn

Senedd.

There’s a super majority in favour of further devolution and poll after poll also in favour. Yet a Tory Govt in Westminster is actively undermining Welsh Democracy. Does that represent what Welsh people want?

BTW, the Tories are Nationalists. Honking great big ones.

Last edited 2 years ago by Arwyn
Steve Duggan
Steve Duggan
2 years ago
Reply to  Arwyn

Not for long.

Ieuan Evans
Ieuan Evans
2 years ago
Reply to  Arwyn

No!!

Grayham Jones
2 years ago

The people in wales are letting wales down by still voting for the English party’s in wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 kick all English party’s out of wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 that’s the Tories Labour and all Brexit party’s it’s time for a New Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 start fighting for your children and grandchildren future in wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 no more second homes in wales and 500 percent taxes on all second homes in wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 the young people in wales can’t get on the housing market because of incomers and only welsh people voting in wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Ernie The Smallholder
Ernie The Smallholder
2 years ago
Reply to  Grayham Jones

After this event there is a case for the Welsh Government to ban the UK Conservative party (along with other UK fascist groups) within Wales.
And to sanction/remove the Conservative AM/MPs from our parliament, unless they disassociate themselves from the UK Conservative party and all its looney extreme right wing factions.

Cai Wogan Jones
Cai Wogan Jones
2 years ago

This man is a moral vacuum who exhibits many of the same attributes as Putin. A stranger to the truth. Contempt for the rule of law. A propensity for nationalistic and xenophobic sloganizing. Contempt for democracy and constitutional accountability. Enmired in corruption and dirty money.

Time to call him out for what he is. Before it is too late.

Steve Duggan
Steve Duggan
2 years ago

Michael Sheen is absolutely right, Johnson just thinks about himself. We listen instead of listening to ourselves. As a nation Wales has so much to offer. We can be a great little European nation, cementing our place amongst the other great and small nations in Europe such as Ireland and Iceland. Our prosperity would be in our own hands not in the hands of these pompous idiots in London.

Cai Wogan Jones
Cai Wogan Jones
2 years ago

Johnson has been accused of being a ‘threat to national security’ following reports he was at a Tory party fundraising event with his Kremlin friends on the night Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine.

Dafydd
Dafydd
2 years ago

Im sure that if the Brexit vote had been scheduled to be held now it would have been soundly defeated. The response of the eastern European countries to the plight of their neighbour has been humbling – its made me proud to be European.

In stark contrast, Boris Johnson’s comments once again cement my impression of him as a complete and utter tool – sorry if that sounds vulgar but no other description sums him up better.

Last edited 2 years ago by Dafydd
Y Cymro
Y Cymro
2 years ago

For Boris Johnson to compare Brexit with Ukraine is rediculous. The European Union never invaded Britain, directed its Armed Forces to murder & maim with hypersonic weaponry, or dropped bombs on cowering civilians sheltering in community centers & schools throughout these isles. He’s a callous fool. Recently we had ignoramus Jacob Rees-Smugg also make similar crass comments when he stated that Partygate was “trivial fluff’ even though his government has overseen the deaths of 150,000 in England to Covid. So I echo others when they say we need to break away and become an independent country. Because the Conservatives are… Read more »

Rob
Rob
2 years ago

That is just shameful, but then it is hardly surprising. How many times have you heard Brexiteers compare the European Union to Nazi Germany? How many times have you heard Brexiteers say things like “We went through two world wars, we can get through a no deal Brexit”. These people are quite happy to put their fellow citizens through economic hardship so that they can waive their union jack, keep the foreigners out, and yearn for the 1940s (an era in which those who experienced it would never want to experience it again). Yet somehow its the Welsh or Scottish… Read more »

Quornby
Quornby
2 years ago

…..and we thought Trump was a jackass.

Ernie The Smallholder
Ernie The Smallholder
2 years ago

Boris Johnson’s comment are an insult to the people of the Ukraine that are currently resisting a large bully (armed with nuclear weapons) to its east.

I feel much like the position that Wales is in right now.

It is right that Ukraine has the right to be a free and independent nation.
It is also the right of Wales to be a free and independent nation.

To this he denies and shows the Conservative contempt it holds for Wales and shows they are no better than Putin.

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