Nigel Farage has branded Boris Johnson as the “worst prime minister of modern times”.
The Reform UK leader was responding to cross-party criticism for suggesting the West provoked Russia into invading Ukraine.
Speaking on the campaign trail on Monday, Farage said he would “never, ever, ever defend Putin”, calling the Russian premier’s behaviour “reprehensible”.
Last week, the former UKIP leader appeared on the BBC’s Panorama programme, drawing a link between NATO and EU expansion in recent decades and the conflict in eastern Europe.
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Subsequently, writing in the Telegraph newspaper, Farage said the “political establishment” had been echoing a “slur” about him.
He added: “Nobody can fairly accuse me of being an appeaser. I have never sought to justify Putin’s invasion in any way and I’m not now.”
But he went on: “Back in 2014, when the EU first offered Ukraine an accession agreement, I said in a speech in the European Parliament that ‘there will be a war in Ukraine’. Why? Because the expansion of Nato and the European Union was giving Putin a pretext he would not ignore.
“If you poke the Russian bear with a stick, don’t be surprised if he responds. And if you have neither the means nor the political will to face him down, poking a bear is not good policy.”
Responding to Farage’s comments, Boris Johnson accused the Reform leader of spouting “ahistorical drivel”.
The former prime minister said: “Nobody provoked Putin. Nobody ‘poked the bear with a stick’. The people of Ukraine voted overwhelmingly in 1991 to be a sovereign and independent country.
“They were perfectly entitled to seek both Nato and EU membership. There is only one person responsible for Russian aggression against Ukraine – both in 2014 and 2022 – and that is Putin.
“To try to spread the blame is morally repugnant and parroting Putin’s lies.”
Hitting back on Monday, Farage labelled Johnson as the “worst prime minister of modern times”, who betrayed an “80-seat majority” and let down Brexit supporters.
He said the former prime minister “pretended” to be a Conservative, but was actually a green.
The Reform UK leader went on to attack the Conservative Party for cutting the defence budget.
“You get peace through strength”, Farage said.
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