Former British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson appeared in Washington, D.C., this week to accept the Irving Kristol Award at the American Enterprise Institute’s annual black-tie gala.
He spoke a great deal about British politics, focusing most of his attention on trade policy. Johnson also spoke a great deal about foreign policy, and what he characterized and disastrous attempts to hit some sort of “reset” button with Russia.
Here are some of his most quotable moments from the dinner:
On Brexit:
“We have a great chance right now,” Johnson said. “We are in the throes of deciding exactly how to carry out Brexit. We have a choice. This is an incredible moment for everybody who cares about global markets and free trade. The UK is be about to work loose of the EU system and is about to enter the global system as an independent actor. That’s an opportunity.”
He added, “The last thing we want is for us, the Brits, having made a momentous decision, to be drawn back into the tractor beam of Brussels.”
He clarified he was making a Star Wars reference and not a tortured allusion to agricultural practices.
AEI President Arthur Brooks asked, “So Brussels is the Death Star?”
Johnson said yes, adding “We’ve done the right thing. … Take back control.”
On Winston Churchill:
“He made many mistakes,” said the British politician, adding he “got so many things wrong, ranging from Gallipoli to going back on gold to Indian independence.”
However, Johnson added, “the one thing he got right in May 1940 was to fight on and not do a deal with Mussolini and Hitler. He had a willingness to think for himself and be brave.”
On the European Union:
“The erosion of democracy in the EU is worrying, and you’re seeing some of the bad effects now,” said Johnson.
He added, “In a deep Freudian way, I have no doubt that the EU integrationists want to recreate the Roman Empire. The differences between the EU and the Roman Empire are instructive.”
Its efforts to create “a unity” of laws and culture has failed to create a “sense of allegiance” felt by the citizens of earlier unions and empires.
“The only parallel for that sense of E Pluribus Unum is the U.S. With the best will in the world, the EU is not like that,” he said.
On Russia:
“When I became foreign secretary, I decided, or I thought, there was no objective reason why we should be quite so hostile to Russia,” Johnson said.
“I thought – yet, there were reasons to be suspicious and lots of reasons to be weary and lots of reasons to be cautious. But I thought it was possible and I made the classic, classic mistake of thinking it was possible to have a reset with Russia,” he added.
He said he wanted to “engage” with Russian President Vladimir Putin to see if there were areas where they could work together, including fighting terrorism.
“Then it just became clearer and clearer to that it was a fool’s errand,” Johnson said.
He then turned his attention to the Salisbury poisoning and accused the two Russian suspects held in the attack as “murderers,” daring Russian authorities to sue him.
The two suspects appeared recently on the Kremlin-backed “news” network RT. Johnson was not happy with their appearance.
“And you see what’s happening now with these two characters produced in this satirical way by Putin on Russian TV, asked these ludicrously patsy questions, making a mockery of the whole thing,” he said.
“And it really makes my blood boil,” he added. “I hold that regime in absolute contempt. I’ll say it now – those two guys on Russian TV are murderers. And if they dispute that fact, they can sue me in the courts.”
You can watch video of Johnson’s interview with AEI President Arthur Brooks here.
