Former UK PM Johnson to get new Ukraine-related position

The former UK prime minister Boris Johnson is set to be the new president of the Conservative Friends of Ukraine group.

The current president of the group, former minister John Whittingdale, revealed his successor on the opening day of the party’s Autumn conference in Birmingham on October 2, according to inews.co.uk.

It will be Johnson’s first new role since he stepped down as Prime Minister last month.

He said Johnson is “in many ways the obvious and most deserving person to lead this organisation because he was the first person, not just in this country but across the western world, to so strongly come out in support of the Ukrainian people”.

The former prime minister struck up a close friendship with Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his time in office but was also accused by critics of using Ukraine to distract from his own problem-plagued leadership.

Johnson, who remains the MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip and has ruled out an early departure from Parliament, is not attending the party’s annual gathering in Birmingham as he leaves the spotlight to his successor Liz Truss.

Discussing the former Prime Minister’s non-attendance, Mr Whittingdale said: “Boris is sorry that he can’t be with us today, but he has sent his total support for what we all believe and our support continuing for Ukraine.”