What Boris Johnson's new allies tell us about 'Global Britain'

[bronxiteforever]

Welcome to the future, where a state of fewer than ten million people, led by a kleptocrat who described migrants as ‘poison’, is ‘vital’ to British prosperity
OpenDemocracy
By Peter Geoghegan
1 June 2021, 11.08am

Pity Boris Johnson. The fabled bon vivant has not had many opportunities to entertain in recent months. The pandemic has meant that foreign visitors have been thin on the ground. That changed last Friday when Johnson hosted Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán.

Orbán was just the second EU leader invited to Downing Street since Brexit – and he’s not exactly an obvious choice for a powwow. A fierce critic of US president Joe Biden, an ally of China, Russia and Belarus and a proponent of the far-Right ‘great replacement’ theory, Orbán is hardly a mainstream European leader. The party he leads, Fidesz, has been kicked out of the centre-right grouping in the European Parliament.

So why invite Orbán to Downing Street at all? … real story of the Hungarian’s trip to Downing Street is less about Johnsonian populism and more about the reality of Brexit Britain. Almost five years on from the 2016 referendum, what Global Britain means is starting to become apparent. And it isn’t pretty…Britain is left cosying up to autocrats and scrambling to sign trade deals that look set to improve life for the rich with little benefit for the rest of us… British government spokesperson criticised previous comments the Hungarian prime minister had made about “Muslim invaders”– but also said that the visit was “vital” for the UK’s security and prosperity.

Welcome to the near future, where a state of fewer than ten million people led by a kleptocrat is “vital” to British prosperity. It was briefed that the main reason for the invite was because Orbán asked to come, but that only underscores the weakness of Britain’s international standing.

A long article. More here

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/what-boris-johnsons-new-allies-tell-us-about-global-britain/

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Johnson wants a friend on the inside of the EU, to cause doubt and delay

It helps him a lot if the EU is disunited about some things - if it's negotiation with Britain, or if it's just something he can point to to say "see - the EU can't take decisions", to keep up the spirits of the Brexiteers as the trade deals trickle in, with ever smaller gains in them.

[bronxiteforever]

2. +1 good point. I hadn't thought of it that way.