Boris isn’t weak on Russia… just look towards the ‘feeble and gutless’ EU for that

HIS critics scream that he’s a national embarrassment, a court jester playing at diplomacy.

Boris Johnson, they say, has been humiliated by his failure to persuade the G7 to back further sanctions on Russia.

In private, even some of his  Cabinet colleagues echo these views.

But this judgment is a   misreading of the situation.

To be sure, Boris got too far forward on his skis this week.

He was overly confident that the G7 would be prepared to act after Russia’s client regime in Syria used chemical  weapons on its own people.

But the real story isn’t Boris’s failure, but the weakness of those members of the G7 who wouldn’t back sanctions —  principally, Italy and Germany.

Vladimir Putin’s approach has always been to push until he encounters resistance. With the Europeans blocking efforts to push back, the Russian leader will be emboldened. No wonder  one British diplomatic source describes their behaviour as “feeble and gutless”.

During the EU referendum campaign, one of the better arguments that the Remain side had was that we should be wary because Putin wanted Britain to leave the EU. They argued that a unified Europe was necessary to counter Moscow’s meddling and aggression.

But this week has shown that European countries  aren’t prepared to do that. The Italians didn’t want sanctions on Russia as their president was there on a visit. While Berlin worried about Moscow cutting off gas supplies — 39 per cent of Germany’s gas comes from Russia.

It will be left to the  Americans to impose further, targeted sanctions on Russia in the coming weeks.

When Donald Trump is tougher on Putin than you are, you are doing something very wrong.

In truth, most of the criticism Boris is getting is really about the EU referendum. If Boris hadn’t backed Out, Britain wouldn’t be leaving the EU.

With the Europeans blocking efforts to push back, the Russian leader will be emboldened. No wonder one British diplomatic source describes their behaviour as “feeble and gutless”

It was his force of personality that helped drive Leave over the line. Many on the other side of the argument — including some of his own colleagues, will never forgive him for that.

So every effort will be made to portray Boris as shambolic,  as someone unworthy to hold a great office of state. They claim  he turns up to meetings with the wrong papers or makes absurd points.

But others in Cabinet dispute this. One minister, who backed Remain, tells me  Boris’s  contributions are some of the most impressive. He knows his brief but  doesn’t just parrot his department’s line.

He is also not afraid to challenge the conventional wisdom.

When Cabinet discussed the ban on flying with laptops from various countries, it was Boris who questioned whether this move might end up hurting the economies of these places, several of which are highly dependent on tourism, and end up making them more vulnerable to Islamist extremism.

Even on sanctions, Boris might end up getting his way. He and the French Foreign Minister will today issue a joint statement saying that those individuals responsible for the chemical weapons attack must be held to account.

 James Forsyth is political editor of The Spectator

France vote key to Brexit

IN eight days, France goes to the polls for the first round of its presidential election.

But no one can confidently predict who will make the final two.

Four candidates are close – Marine Le Pen from the nationalist right, below, the centrist Emmanuel Macron, Francois Fillon the conservative and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who is so left-wing he makes Jeremy Corbyn look like a New Labour moderate.

In private, the UK  Government is keen for  Fillon to win. “Fingers crossed,” one influential figure remarked to me. Why do they want Fillon? Because of Brexit.

Both Mélenchon and Le Pen are committed to taking France out of the Euro, and victory for either of them would paralyse the EU. This would mean   Britain had no one to negotiate with, pretty much guaranteeing we would leave without a deal.

Macron is  pro-European and wants more integration. He’ll want Brexit to look painful.

Fillon, though, isn’t   hostile to Britain.

But that  candidates of both the far-right and the far-left are polling at around 20 per cent shows just how disenchanted French voters are.

 It is another reminder of how unstable the foundations of the European project now are.

Trump in welcome centre shift

THERE’S been something approaching an establishment coup in Washington.

All of a sudden,  Donald Trump is almost behaving like a conventional American President.

He no longer thinks Nato is “obsolete”, has backed away from plans for a trade war with China and is talking about his obligations to the world, not just America.

What’s happening is that the more sensible  figures in the  White House are asserting themselves. Jared Kushner, the President’s son-in-law, is winning a power struggle with Steve Bannon, Trump’s “America First” chief strategist.

At the same time, General McMaster – Trump’s new national security adviser – is pushing foreign policy in a hard-headed but less ideological direction. This shift is the cause of huge relief in Whitehall. Inside government, they now calculate  the Trump Presidency will be easier to deal with than they initially expected. “McMaster is crucial in all this,” one Government source tells me.

Trump is also making headway on the nightmare issue of North Korea, a rogue state with nuclear weapons.  His tough line and his willingness to cut China a better deal on trade if it helps sort this problem, has persuaded Beijing to put real pressure on North Korea  – something Obama singularly failed to do. The Chinese government’s mouthpieces are making clear that North Korea will face a response of “unprecedented ferocity” if it goes ahead with more nuclear missile tests.

In another sign of how Beijing is trying to send a message to its  neighbour, Air China is stopping direct flights to Pyongyang from Monday.

If President Trump can get the Chinese to force the North Koreans to the negotiating table,  he’ll have substantially reduced the risk of a nuclear conflict.

THE gloves are coming off as Theresa May tries to knock back Nicola Sturgeon’s demand for a second independence referendum.

The UK Government is now  prepared to attack the Scottish government’s record, something  David Cameron shied  from doing.

One influential Tory tells me: “We’ve got to expose their failings over the past ten years. It’s one of our best cards.”   As this Tory puts it: “It’s their bloody fault that the Scottish economy is underperforming the rest of the UK. It’s their bloody fault that Scottish schools aren’t as good as they used to be.”

DAMIAN GREEN is the senior member of the Cabinet closest to Theresa May. They have known each other for 40 years. Green is now strengthening his team by hiring Sun journalist Dylan Sharpe as a special adviser.

Sharpe was head of press on the successful “No to AV” referendum campaign and worked on Boris Johnson’s 2008 mayoral bid.

Widely respected in Downing Street for being a safe pair of hands, expect to see Green on your TV when May has an issue that needs delicate handling.