Boris Johnson — © AB
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been appointed as the new Secretary General of NATO. British newspaper The Telegraph reports that leading Conservatives are pushing him forward for the post, which will be announced next September when Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg is expected to step down.
jvhSource: Belga
For now, Johnson is still prime minister of the United Kingdom, but he will soon leave the job if his party chooses a successor in six weeks. According to The Telegraph, Americans prefer a British NATO leader to one from the European Union because their own defense policy is being talked about more. Earlier, former Prime Ministers Theresa May and David Cameron and Defense Secretary Ben Wallace were named as possible successors to Stoltenberg.
According to conservatives, Johnson would be a good choice because he has been tough on Russia in recent months. The UK has supplied Ukraine with many weapons and Johnson has a good personal relationship with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Some Conservative MPs, such as Richard Drax and Marc Francois, have told The Telegraph they support Johnson’s potential candidacy. “Any good Brit would be a good choice,” Drax explains. “If Boris Johnson wants to do it, of course I’ll support it.”
Lord Dannett, former Chief of the British Army, thinks otherwise. “He has undoubtedly done good things for us, and our support for Ukraine has been fantastic,” he says. “I’m afraid it’s personal stuff, a lack of integrity, a lack of trust. Frankly, we don’t want to make any more fun of Boris Johnson on the international stage. He’s a national disgrace.
Since the Secretary General must be unanimously elected by all member states, all EU member states in NATO must agree. There are already doubts among conservatives that someone like Emmanuel Macron would accept Johnson’s nomination, as the two have clashed regularly over the implementation of Brexit in recent years.
Stoltenberg’s term as NATO chief was originally set to end the following September, but because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, member states asked him to stay on for an extra year. Norway’s former prime minister has led the Western bloc since 2014 and is already the longest-serving secretary-general.
