UK, India need each other now more than ever, says Boris Johnson

Ties between the United Kingdom and India will remain on a “phenomenal upward trajectory” under Indian-origin UK Prime Miner Rishi Sunak, Britain’s former premier Boris Johnson said on Saturday.
The two countries need each other now more than ever as “we live in dangerous and turbulent times”, he said.
Johnson also called on the two countries to finalise a free trade agreement, saying he could not wait till next Diwali for it.
“No mission that I have led has been as successful as the one in April this year when I arrived in Gujarat and was greeted like Sachin Tendulkar. There were pictures of me everywhere and literally thousands of people dancing on the streets,” Johnson said in his address at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New Delhi.
Noting that Prime Miner Narendra Modi and he had discussed the future of India-UK partnership during his India visit, Johnson said they had “fantastic talks” and there have been results.
File photo of former UK Prime Miner Boris Johnson with sitting PM Rishi Sunak (AP Photo)
“India has become the number one supplier of overseas students to the UK. There are 1,08,000 Indian students in the UK to support our education industry,” he said.
The former British prime miner pointed out that even without a free trade agreement, the two countries have seen bilateral trade go up 28 per cent.
“Let us finally deliver that free trade agreement which mysteriously seems to have developed a flat tyre since I left office. Prime Miner Modi and I said it will be done Diwali. I’m not going to wait till the next Diwali before we do that free trade deal. I wonder what the holdup is,” Johnson said.
“The government that I was proud to lead boasted more miners who could trace their origins to India than any other government in the world. The crowning achievement of my approach is that my replacement himself is of Indian-origin,” he said.

There is no greater sacrifice than that of those who lay down their lives in service of their country.
So during this year’s #PoppyAppeal, please give generously to honour our veterans – past and present – and those who continue to protect us today. pic.twitter.com/3pEDk3ZU2g
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) October 31, 2022
Last month, Rishi Sunak was installed as Britain’s first Indian-origin prime miner after the brief tenure of Liz Truss, who had taken over after Johnson quit as the prime miner.
“I know that under Rishi, this relationship, so strong and so dynamic, is going to follow the same phenomenal upward trajectory. We need each other now more than ever because, as PM Modi and his external affairs miner S Jaishankar had said, we live in dangerous and turbulent times,” Johnson said.
The former British prime miner also slammed Russian President Vladimir Putin for a “vile and unprovoked invasion” of Ukraine.
“Even if the UK and India were not drawn together ties of love, sentiments, family, trade, commerce…if we were not tied together economic self-interest, we would be drawn together for this fervour and the vital reason that we two democracies are forced to cope together with the irresponsible and sometimes dangerous behaviour of the world’s coercive autocracies,” he added.
In this file photo, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and British Prime Miner Boris Johnson walk along a street after a meeting, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Reuters)
Hitting out at Putin, Johnson made three predictions. “Putin will lose and deservedly so…Putin will be beaten simple heroism of love and country the people of Ukraine,” he said.
Asserting that the conflict was a “disastrous advertisement” for Putin’s “war machine”, he said Russia’s exports of military equipment will be badly affected.
This disastrous miscalculation Putin will severely weaken Russia and greatly strengthen China, he predicted.
“The bear is looking increasingly forlorn and pushed around a giant, assertive Kung Fu Panda,” he said.
The former British prime miner also hailed the India-UK collaboration in providing vaccines against Covid to the world and compared the successful handling of the pandemic in democracies like the UK and India to that of “autocracies” such as China.