Johnson faces backlash after comparing Ukraine war to Brexit vote

Johnson faces backlash after comparing Ukraine war to Brexit vote

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been engulfed by a tide of criticism at home and across Europe after he compared Ukraine’s fight for “freedom” to Britain’s 2016 vote to leave the EU.

Rishi Sunak, chancellor, on Sunday attempted to defend the prime minister, insisting that the two issues were “not directly analogous” and that Johnson had not intended to make a straight comparison.

But other senior Tories distanced themselves from Johnson’s comments at the Conservative party spring conference in Blackpool, while leading European politicians condemned them.

Johnson said on Saturday it was the “instinct” of the British people, “like the people of Ukraine”, to “choose freedom”, citing recent events such as the 2016 EU referendum and the UK’s Covid-19 vaccine rollout.

“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,” he said. “It’s because they wanted to be free to do things differently and for this country to be able to run itself.”

Asked on Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme on whether he believed the comments were “crass”, Sunak said Johnson “has taken a lead globally in standing up to [Russian president Vladimir] Putin”.

But Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel