Johnson turns tough on Russia, drawing flak from all sides

Leaders from across the U.K. political spectrum question the wisdom of Foreign Secretary’s decision to cancel Moscow visit

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson (R) and France's Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault pose for a family photo during a G7 for foreign ministers in Lucca, Italy on Tuesday.

The past week and the recent developments in Syria have seen British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson adopting a vocal position with regards to the civil war-hit West Asian country and its ally Russia. First he cancelled a trip to Russia on the weekend, and then announced during the G7 meeting in Italy that there were discussions on sanctions against senior Russian and Syrian military figures.

The Syrian crisis presents a decisive moment for Mr. Johnson to send a message about the U.K.’s global positioning. The challenge is particularly striking with regards to Mr. Johnson who, despite being the Foreign Secretary since July last year, has at points struggled to shed the image of the mop-haired former mayor, given the diplomatic faux pas and political U-turns. His appointment as Foreign Secretary was viewed with “bewilderment” in Berlin, said Dr. Henning Hoff, executive editor of the Berlin Policy Journal .

Mr. Johnson has changed his position on Syria several times: “Bravo for Assad — he is a vile tyrant but he has saved Palmyra from ISIL,” he wrote in an article for the

Daily Telegraph last year (before becoming the Foreign Secretary), also praising Russia for helping “winkle the maniacs from Palmyra”. Though he subsequently hardened his line on Syria, in January he told a parliamentary committee that Britain was “open minded” about the length of time it could take for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to give up power.

Russia has opted to play on his reputation, with the embassy in London churning out a series of tweets, labelling Mr. Johnson as the “lieutenant” of U.S. President Donald Trump and describing the decision to cancel talks as “deplorable” and “absurd”.

He’s also come in for criticism, both from the left and the right domestically. Tim Farron, leader of the Liberal Democrats, told Sky News that stepping back from the visit particularly just ahead of a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, not only gave the impression of being a “poodle of Washington” but raised questions about the way his diplomatic abilities were viewed in Washington D.C. Labour too has condemned the government’s stance, saying it was a time for urging restraint from the U.S., rather than risk intensifying a conflict that had already killed hundreds of thousands. Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage also condemned Mr. Johnson’s stance on Syria, warning that he risked Britain being seen as “America’s poodle.”

Mr. Johnson’s political influence will face further questions, as the G7 meeting concluded without an agreement on the sanctions that Mr. Johnson had talked of, and with Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfan’s insistence that they wished to have a dialogue with Russia, rather than push it into a corner.