How the former prime minister and his team responded to Putin’s ruthless attack on a friend included cobra meetings at daybreak, secure lines to Biden, anti-tank missiles, and Partygate wrath.
As Boris Johnson and his ministers regularly raised concerns about the Kremlin’s intentions for weeks and months, the British Government was shocked but not surprised by Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine one year ago today.
The background to the start of the war was, according to insiders, “surreal” because it occurred at a time when No. 10, MPs, and the media were preoccupied with “Partygate,” which the police were looking into after Sue Gray’s initial report found “failures of leadership” had led to a situation where staff were holding unauthorized gatherings in Downing Street during Covid lockdowns.
“There was a war in mainland Europe and people were getting questionnaires about parties,” one aide working for Mr Johnson at the time told i. “It was a baffling time, we had those two things going on.”
Although the early fervor against the then-prime minister, which peaked with a “pork pie plan” by Tory MPs, had subsided by late February, issues regarding his future remained at the time the war began.
Since the end of 2021, there have been more meetings on ways to counter Putin’s threat. These sessions have included internal debates on the implications that a conflict in Ukraine might have on the UK’s own economy.
Mr Johnson visited Poland, Estonia and Ukraine for talks with central and eastern European leaders who – like the UK – were deeply worried about the Kremlin’s intentions at a time when other high-profile figures such as French President Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Olaf Scholz were playing down the likelihood of an invasion.
The role of Joe Biden, only recently elected US President, was seen as vital and the Prime Minister considered travelling to Washington to strengthen his resolve.
On a visit to a hospital in northern England 10 days before the invasion, Mr Johnson’s team had to ask NHS staff to set up a secure room so he could speak to Mr Biden on the phone, setting up plans for a package of sanctions that would take effect when Putin’s troops moved in.
