'Of Course It's Not': Ex-Danish Prime Minister Mocks Claim UK Is 'Leading' Against Russia
The former prime minister of Denmark said she “almost chuckled” when a Conservative cabinet minister claimed the UK is “leading” against Russia.
During a special BBC Question Time devoted to the war in Ukraine, Helle Thorning-Schmidt took exception to remarks made by Nadhim Zahawi, the education secretary.
Zahawi was answering a question about the refugee crisis when he said Russia “sees the UK as leading the co-ordination effort”, and started to refer to supplying Ukraine with defensive weapons and issuing punishing sanctions on Vladamir Putin’s regime.
In recent days, the UK’s handling of Ukrainian refugees has faced fierce criticism, and has been compared unfavourably to the European Union response.
The British government has insisted that displaced Ukrainians first acquire a visa, meaning some have been stuck in France and unable to enter Britain. By contrast, the EU has agreed to grant temporary residency to Ukrainians fleeing the invasion and given them access to employment, social welfare and housing for up to three years.
While hundreds of thousands have poured into wider Europe, just 760 visas have been granted for Ukrainians to come to the UK.
Turned on #bbcqt special to see @HelleThorning_S calling out @nadhimzahawi's nonsense that UK can't waive refugee visas (unlike rest of Europe) because Putin sees UK as most dangerous enemy.
She correctly points out that Putin will be more concerned about EU.— Siobhan Benita 🇺🇦🌻 (@SiobhanBenita) March 9, 2022
Witnessing Helle Thorning-Schmidt handing Nadhim Zahawi his arse is worth the license fee alone. Putin probably couldn’t pick out Brexit Island on a map, that’s how insignificant we are compared to the EU #bbcqt
— Karen (@karenriden) March 9, 2022
Thorning-Schmidt, who was Danish PM between 2011 and 2015, and is married to Labour MP Stephen Kinnock, said: “You said something that almost made me chuckle when you said that Putin will think the UK is leading the efforts against Russia right now.
“Of course it’s not, the European Union is leading the effort against Russia. I don’t think they will see Boris Johnson as a particular leader in this field, so set that straight.”
When Zahawi said “it should be a team effort”, Thorning-Schmidt responded: “You said Russia will see the UK as a leader, I don’t know why they would do that.”
Earlier on Wednesday, UK defence secretary Ben Wallace told the MPs that the Ministry of Defence was looking at whether they could supply Ukraine anti-aircraft missiles as well as more anti-tank weapons.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost UK and has been updated.
