Philip Hammond defends Boris Johnson after he’s accused of ’embarrassing’ UK on the world stage
Chancellor says UK will still push for Russia sanctions despite G7 summit ending without an agreement on new measures
PHILIP Hammond has leapt to Boris Johnson’s defence after the Foreign Secretary was accused of “embarrassing'” the UK on the world stage.
The Chancellor said the UK will still push for sanctions against Russia despite the G7 summit ending without an agreement on any new measures.
Mr Johnson's plan to target senior Kremlin and Syrian military figures was rebuffed by European allies at a meeting of foreign ministers in Italy.
But Mr Hammond - who was his predecessor at the Foreign Office - acknowledged some allies were "less forward-leaning" than Britain on the issue, but said that would not affect the Government's position.
He told Sky News: "The British Government's position has been, and will remain, to lead the way on arguing for a robust approach towards Russian aggression in Syria.”
After Mrs May also backed Mr Johnson's performance at the two-day meeting in Lucca, he added: "We have been doing it for years and we will go on doing it. We have to make that case and we will continue making that case.
"Sometimes some of our partners are less forward-leaning than we are but that won't stop us making the case for what we believe is the right approach to dealing with Russia."
MOST READ IN POLITICS
But Labour has claimed Britain has been embarrassed on the world stage by Mr Johnson's poor judgement over Syria.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the former London mayor’s failure to get the G7 to back his push for new sanctions had damaged the UK's credibility.
He said: "The idea of going along to the G7 and threatening to try and put together a coalition around sanctions was never going to succeed. It was a really bad policy decision by Mr Johnson.
“It should never have happened. It is a pity that Mr Johnson made such a poor judgment in this matter.
"To have these one day on and off policies from Boris Johnson every time he thinks up a new idea, never really thinks it through, and then embarrasses our whole country in the international scene, to be frank, undermines our credibility in the future.”
And Mr McDonnell questioned why Theresa May continued with her Welsh walking holiday as events unfolded in the Syrian crisis.
He said to Sky News: "I don't begrudge anyone a break every now and again. But, you have got to either recognise the seriousness of the situation and put your full attention to it, and that is what I think the Prime Minister should be doing, or you have got to have confidence in the person that you send out to deal with this situation.
"What we've got at the moment is neither a Prime Minister properly engaged, nor someone who anybody, even on Tory backbenches, and in, what we understand, the Government's own Cabinet, has confidence in with regard to Boris Johnson.
"I think we are in the worst of all worlds as a result."