London:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been written about fondly by former British PM Boris Johnson in his memoir ‘Unleashed’ which will be available in bookstores in the UK in a few days.

The book, which journeys through Mr Johnson’s very eventful, noteworthy and lively political career mentions about his meetings with Prime Minister Modi, calling him the “change-maker” we need. Writing about his very first meeting with the prime minister, Mr Johnson recalls “a curious astral energy” he had felt.

The former British prime minister has written an entire chapter dedicated to India and described ties between the two nations as “a relationship as good as it has ever been.”

Calling Prime Minister Modi “exactly the partner of friend” he needed, Mr Johnson credited himself and PM Modi for laying the foundation for a free-trade pact between India and the UK.

The significance of India-UK ties could be seen in the former prime minister’s book as he repeatedly mentions the “friendship” shared between the two countries, especially in the context of the Indo-Pacific region and its vision.

“For some reason, we went down to stand in the dark in the plaza by Tower Bridge, in front of a crowd of his supporters,” Mr Johnson writes in the chapter titled ‘Britain and India’, referencing his first meeting with PM Modi during a visit to his City Hall office by the river Thames when he was Mayor of London.

“He raised my arm and chanted something or other in Hindi, and though I couldn’t follow it I felt his curious astral energy. I have enjoyed his company ever since – because I reckon he is the change-maker our relationship needs. With Modi, I felt sure, we could not only do a great free-trade deal but also build a long-term partnership, as friends and equals,” he writes.

Mr Johnson reveals how a “distinctly sniffy” UK Foreign Office had dissuaded him from meeting Mr Modi during an earlier mayoral trade delegation to India in 2012, a problem, he writes, which was “soon dropped” to pave the way for a relationship that “hit an all-time high”.

In the book he also mentions how much he loves India, calling himself a “veteran” of many Indian weddings because his children with Sikh heritage ex-wife Marina Wheeler trace their roots to India.

While he writes with pride of a similar “Anglo-Indian syncretism” in politics with his diverse Cabinet as PM including many British Indians such as Rishi Sunak and Priti Patel, Mr Johnson laments the slow-paced growth of bilateral trade due to unnecessary trade barriers that leave UK visitors “clinking in with duty-free booze” for Indians starved of Scotch whisky at decent prices.

The “tremendous success” of his visit to India as PM in January 2022 he recalls as a much-needed “morale boost” and “balm for the soul” away from an increasingly belligerent domestic politics that would eventually end in his unceremonious exit from 10 Downing Street just a few months later.

He claims he had also wanted to use the visit to make a “gentle point to Narendra” on the issue of relations with Russia at a “global inflection point” with its conflict with Ukraine.

He writes: “I knew all the history and the sensitivities, the reasons for India’s post-war non-alignment with the West, the seemingly unbreakable relationship with Moscow. I understand the Indian dependence – like China’s – on Russian hydrocarbons.”

“But I wondered if it was not time for a modulation, a rethink… As I was to put it to the Indians, Russian missiles were turning out to be less accurate, statistically, than my first serve at tennis. Did they really want to keep Russia as their main supplier of military hardware?” It is in this context that in another section of the book, where he showers the late Queen Elizabeth II with effusive praise for her deep personal knowledge of history and history-makers, he references his efforts to get India to take a “tougher line” with Russians.

“She remembered something the former Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had told her in the 1950s. ‘He told me that India will always side with Russia and that some things will never change. They just are.’ I cite that as an illustration of her amazing ability to reassure and to contextualise,” he shares, with reference to his customary weekly audiences with the late monarch as prime minister.

Mr Johnson goes on to credit himself with injecting a broader vision for the India-UK partnership to go beyond trade and climate change and educational partnerships and embark on a whole programme of military and technological collaboration.

“Overcoming the qualms of the MoD (Ministry of Defence), who are always worried about India’s closeness to Russia, we agreed to work together on all kinds of military technology, from submarines to helicopters to marine propulsion units,” he proudly declares.

With ‘Unleashed’, Mr Johnson seems to be keen to stress a lack of bitterness over his undignified removal as PM in the wake of the partygate scandal of Covid law-breaking parties but is clear that it was Rishi Sunak, his eventual successor at 10 Downing Street, who precipitated the problems by resigning as chancellor from his Cabinet in June 2022.

“It was worse than a crime, I thought, it was a mistake – both for Rishi and for the party, never mind the country. So it proved,” he writes, alluding to the recent disastrous general election result for the Tories.

“I don’t blame Rishi for prematurely wanting to be PM; in fact I don’t blame any of them, really, for trying to turf me out. It’s just what Tory MPs do…It goes without saying that if we had all stuck together I have no doubt that we would have gone on to win in 2024, and a lot more of my friends would now have their seats,” he claims.

(Inputs from PTI)
 

London:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been written about fondly by former British PM Boris Johnson in his memoir ‘Unleashed’ which will be available in bookstores in the UK in a few days.

The book, which journeys through Mr Johnson’s very eventful, noteworthy and lively political career mentions about his meetings with Prime Minister Modi, calling him the “change-maker” we need. Writing about his very first meeting with the prime minister, Mr Johnson recalls “a curious astral energy” he had felt.

The former British prime minister has written an entire chapter dedicated to India and described ties between the two nations as “a relationship as good as it has ever been.”

Calling Prime Minister Modi “exactly the partner of friend” he needed, Mr Johnson credited himself and PM Modi for laying the foundation for a free-trade pact between India and the UK.

The significance of India-UK ties could be seen in the former prime minister’s book as he repeatedly mentions the “friendship” shared between the two countries, especially in the context of the Indo-Pacific region and its vision.

“For some reason, we went down to stand in the dark in the plaza by Tower Bridge, in front of a crowd of his supporters,” Mr Johnson writes in the chapter titled ‘Britain and India’, referencing his first meeting with PM Modi during a visit to his City Hall office by the river Thames when he was Mayor of London.

“He raised my arm and chanted something or other in Hindi, and though I couldn’t follow it I felt his curious astral energy. I have enjoyed his company ever since – because I reckon he is the change-maker our relationship needs. With Modi, I felt sure, we could not only do a great free-trade deal but also build a long-term partnership, as friends and equals,” he writes.

Mr Johnson reveals how a “distinctly sniffy” UK Foreign Office had dissuaded him from meeting Mr Modi during an earlier mayoral trade delegation to India in 2012, a problem, he writes, which was “soon dropped” to pave the way for a relationship that “hit an all-time high”.

In the book he also mentions how much he loves India, calling himself a “veteran” of many Indian weddings because his children with Sikh heritage ex-wife Marina Wheeler trace their roots to India.

While he writes with pride of a similar “Anglo-Indian syncretism” in politics with his diverse Cabinet as PM including many British Indians such as Rishi Sunak and Priti Patel, Mr Johnson laments the slow-paced growth of bilateral trade due to unnecessary trade barriers that leave UK visitors “clinking in with duty-free booze” for Indians starved of Scotch whisky at decent prices.

The “tremendous success” of his visit to India as PM in January 2022 he recalls as a much-needed “morale boost” and “balm for the soul” away from an increasingly belligerent domestic politics that would eventually end in his unceremonious exit from 10 Downing Street just a few months later.

He claims he had also wanted to use the visit to make a “gentle point to Narendra” on the issue of relations with Russia at a “global inflection point” with its conflict with Ukraine.

He writes: “I knew all the history and the sensitivities, the reasons for India’s post-war non-alignment with the West, the seemingly unbreakable relationship with Moscow. I understand the Indian dependence – like China’s – on Russian hydrocarbons.”

“But I wondered if it was not time for a modulation, a rethink… As I was to put it to the Indians, Russian missiles were turning out to be less accurate, statistically, than my first serve at tennis. Did they really want to keep Russia as their main supplier of military hardware?” It is in this context that in another section of the book, where he showers the late Queen Elizabeth II with effusive praise for her deep personal knowledge of history and history-makers, he references his efforts to get India to take a “tougher line” with Russians.

“She remembered something the former Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had told her in the 1950s. ‘He told me that India will always side with Russia and that some things will never change. They just are.’ I cite that as an illustration of her amazing ability to reassure and to contextualise,” he shares, with reference to his customary weekly audiences with the late monarch as prime minister.

Mr Johnson goes on to credit himself with injecting a broader vision for the India-UK partnership to go beyond trade and climate change and educational partnerships and embark on a whole programme of military and technological collaboration.

“Overcoming the qualms of the MoD (Ministry of Defence), who are always worried about India’s closeness to Russia, we agreed to work together on all kinds of military technology, from submarines to helicopters to marine propulsion units,” he proudly declares.

With ‘Unleashed’, Mr Johnson seems to be keen to stress a lack of bitterness over his undignified removal as PM in the wake of the partygate scandal of Covid law-breaking parties but is clear that it was Rishi Sunak, his eventual successor at 10 Downing Street, who precipitated the problems by resigning as chancellor from his Cabinet in June 2022.

“It was worse than a crime, I thought, it was a mistake – both for Rishi and for the party, never mind the country. So it proved,” he writes, alluding to the recent disastrous general election result for the Tories.

“I don’t blame Rishi for prematurely wanting to be PM; in fact I don’t blame any of them, really, for trying to turf me out. It’s just what Tory MPs do…It goes without saying that if we had all stuck together I have no doubt that we would have gone on to win in 2024, and a lot more of my friends would now have their seats,” he claims.

(Inputs from PTI)
 

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a surprise appearance in the British election campaign on Tuesday, issuing a last-ditch bid to rally support for the Conservatives and their leader Rishi Sunak, the man who helped turf him out of office.

Johnson won a big majority at the last election in 2019 before being forced to resign in 2022 by a Conservative mutiny which Sunak helped to start, and which exposed deep splits in the governing party, not least between Sunak and Johnson.

Greeted by chants of “Boris! Boris!” from party supporters two days before an election which the Conservatives are predicted to lose heavily, he introduced the current prime minister at a campaign event in London.

In a speech listing many of his own achievements, Johnson gave little personal endorsement to Sunak but focused on what he said were the dangers of the opposition Labour Party winning power.

“None of us can sit back as a Labour government prepares to use a sledgehammer majority to destroy so much of what we have achieved,” he said.

Acknowledging that some might be surprised to see him, he said he was glad to be asked to help by Sunak. “Of course I couldn’t say no,” he added.

“Whatever our differences they are utterly trivial by comparison with the disaster we may face if these so-called opinion polls are right,” Johnson said.

Johnson, one of British politics’ most recognisable figures and a proven election winner, has spent almost the entire campaign on the sidelines, having quit frontline politics in 2023. He has endorsed individual candidates in video messages but has not previously appeared at big campaign events.

Sunak, who appeared after – but not alongside – Johnson on the stage, thanked his predecessor.

“Isn’t it great to have our Conservative family united, my friends?” he said.

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson (File Image)
| Photo Credit: AP

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was turned away from a polling station after forgetting to bring ID to vote in the U.K.’s local elections.

British media reported on May 3 that Mr. Johnson — who introduced the requirement for voters to provide ID with a photo when he was in office — was told by polling station staff in South Oxfordshire on May 2 that he would not be able to vote without proving his identity.

Sky News reported that Johnson, who served as Conservative prime minister from 2019 to 2022, was later able to cast his ballot and that he voted Conservative.

Mr. Johnson introduced the Elections Act requiring photo ID in 2022, and the new law was first implemented last year in local elections. But May 2 was the first time large numbers of voters across England and Wales have had to present ID, such as a passport or driving license, to vote.

The Electoral Commission said the vast majority of people were able to meet the new requirements, although it noted that some people who would have wanted to vote may have decided not to try because they did not have acceptable ID.

It also said there was evidence that some people, such as disabled people and the unemployed, found it harder to show voter ID.