Latest updates: Sajid Javid says PM was talking about ‘general desire for self determination’ as criticism grows over remarks
Good morning. Sajid Javid, the health secretary, has been fielding questions on the behalf of the government this morning. The war in Ukraine is still dominating the news agenda, the cost of living is set to be the second biggest story of the week, because we’ve got the spring statement on Wednesday, and Javid had to address concerns about the rise in the number of coronavirus cases, but he also found himself fending off questions about Boris Johnson’s Ukraine/Brexit gaffe – a remark so insensitive that it is still at the top of the news two days later.
In his speech to the Tory spring conference on Saturday, Johnson compared the Ukrainians’ fight for freedom to Britons voting for Brexit. “I know that it’s the instinct of the people of this country, like the people of Ukraine, to choose freedom, every time,” he said. “I can give you a couple of famous recent examples. When the British people voted for Brexit, in such large, large numbers, I don’t believe it was because they were remotely hostile to foreigners.”
[Johnson] was talking about the general desire for people, no matter who they are, where they live, for self determination, and that can be in any setting, in any country. I don’t think at all he was trying to link the specific situation in Ukraine with the UK.
Johnson regrets making the comparison, a close source told The Times. “It sounded better written down than it did when spoken,” the insider said.
