Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister, has come under fire, including from his own MPs, for saying that Brexit demonstrated that Britons shared the same “instinct” for freedom as Ukrainians.
On Saturday, Johnson told the Conservative Party conference in Blackpool, northern England, that it was “the instinct of the people of this country, like the people of Ukraine, to choose freedom every time.”
As a “famous recent example,” he cited the Brexit referendum in June 2016.
“I don’t believe the British people voted for Brexit in such large numbers because they were hostile to foreigners.” “They wanted to be free to do things their own way and for this country to be able to run itself,” he explained.
He also cited the United Kingdom’s rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine as an example of people’s desire to reclaim their freedoms.
In response, European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted on Sunday, “Boris, your words offend Ukrainians, Britons, and common sense.”
Former EU negotiator Guy Verhofstadt described the remarks as “insane.”
Johnson, according to Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey, is “necessarily causing division.”
“Comparing a referendum to women and children fleeing Putin’s bombs is an insult to every Ukrainian,” he continued.
Rishi Sunak, the finance minister, stated on Sky News on Sunday that the two situations are not comparable.
“Clearly, they are not directly analogous, and I don’t believe the prime minister was saying they were,” he said.
