Why Britain’s Conservatives, Unlike America’s, Uniformly Back Ukraine

Boris Johnson aims to win Donald Trump over to Kyiv’s cause

President Zelensky of Ukraine and Prime Minister Johnson of the United Kingdom in 2022. Photo: handout from government of Ukraine.

Singing from the same hymn sheet has not been a strength of Britain’s Conservative politicians in recent decades — indeed, attacking each other has seemingly been their favorite pastime. 

The result is that the Tories went through five different prime ministers in eight years, four in the space of five years. The merry-go-round came to a standstill last month with the Conservative’s worst electoral defeat, at least in terms of seats won, since the formation of the modern party in 1834.

But the Tories, including all six candidates currently vying for the Party leadership, have found one policy to unite around – support for Ukraine. Ever since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Tories have taken an ultra-hawkish position on Russia’s invasion. 

Then prime minister Boris Johnson, alongside his defense minister Ben Wallace, were early and loud cheerleaders for Kyiv. They were the foremost advocates of the West doing all in its power to support President Volodymr Zelensky’s struggles to maintain his country’s sovereignty. Both his successors Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak — two leaders who could agree on very little — followed the Johnson doctrine vis-vis Ukraine to the hilt. 

Even their Labour successor Keir Starmer is insisting the policy remains unchanged from the previous government, although Kyiv is making noises suggesting that London’s support is slightly cooling. Starmer supported the Tory Ukraine line from the opposition benches — and here the reason was straightforward. It was another way of showing how Labour had changed from the worst days of his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn used every opportunity to denigrate Israel, just as he never missed a chance to put the best gloss on Putin’s action. 

When the Tories have managed to rip each other apart on virtually everything else, why have they — indeed the whole British political mainstream  — been so united in support of Ukraine’s cause? The stance contrasts with that of the Republican Party in America, which has has been more divided on the question of spending more money on aiding Ukraine. The Republican Party’s vice presidential candidate, Senator Vance, voted against the latest big American aid to Ukraine legislation, and President Trump has said he’d if elected he’d bring the war to a close.