Memoirs | In his book, Boris Johnson recalls Finland’s NATO process and reveals which sight pleased him in Helsinki

London

Britain’s former Prime Minister Boris Johnson will return to Finland and Sweden’s NATO process in the spring of 2022 in his memoirs.

Johnson writes how he was “proud of Britain’s role” when he arrived to support Finland and Sweden in a risky time, i.e. between submitting the membership application and becoming a member.

“So we in the United Kingdom made an official offer for British troops to come to the rescue [venäläisen] in the case of aggression.”

Johnson himself estimated that the risk of Russian provocation or attack was “small”.

“But that’s what we used to say [aiemmin] also about Russia’s attack on Ukraine.”

Johnson’s the memoirs hit stores on Thursday.

The name of the more than 700-page tome is Unleashedwhich can be translated as unleashed, for example.

The name has already caused amusement in Britain, because even during his 2019-2022 prime ministerial term, Johnson could not be considered particularly formal or reserved.

Johnson writes how he met the president in Helsinki Sauli Niinistön.

The Finnish reader is pleased that the dots in Niinistö’s letter ö are in place in the text.

Johnson, on the other hand, was delighted by the sight that met him in Helsinki:

“Nato was [Suomessa] so popular that there was a small group of pro-Johnson demonstrators at the gate: sadly nothing like that was seen in Dowining Street in those days.”

The official residence of the British Prime Minister is located in London’s Downing Street.

Johnson also noted how the presidential palace in Helsinki is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and therefore very close to St. Petersburg.

Finland and Sweden started their process to become members of the military alliance NATO shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

According to Johnson, this showed how thoroughly wrong the Russian president was Vladimir Putin had assessed the situation.

“He wanted less NATO on his borders, but instead he doubled the border with the alliance.”

According to Johnson, Finland’s and Sweden’s “seventy-five years of neutrality ended at the same time [neutrality]”.

Johnson pokes fun at the French president in his book Emmanuel Macronwho had “just a couple of years before called NATO brain dead”.

Johnson estimates that in both Finland and Sweden the change of heart regarding NATO membership came from the deep ranks of the nations and not so much from the political decision-makers.

“For decades [Suomi ja Ruotsi] guarded their pure and chaste non-alignment. But then these two wonderful Scandinavian countries said that enough is enough, it’s time to join the soldiers, we want the security created by NATO”, Johnson writes freely in Finnish.

To be precise, Finland is not a Scandinavian country. In colloquial language in Britain, however, Finland is often lumped together with the Scandi countries.

Johnson also recalls how the strongest opposition to Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership came from Turkey.

With a little hindsight, however, Johnson states that he was sure that [Nato-kokouksessa] the “old friend” sitting next to him, i.e. the president of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan resistance will melt away.

The Turkish parliament approved Finland’s NATO membership at the end of March 2023. A little earlier, the green light was given by another brakeman, namely Hungary. Finland became a member of NATO on April 4, 2023.

Sweden’s NATO process was about eleven months longer.

The former Conservative Prime Minister Johnson’s memoirs have attracted a lot of attention in Britain. Even before the publication of the book, the tabloid The Daily Mail offered selected tidbits, whose revelations have also been quoted by others.

The headlines have included, among other things, the claim that Johnson even considered attacking the Netherlands in order to get Britain a corona vaccine.

Johnson had to resign as Prime Minister in the summer of 2022, when his own Conservative Party MPs and several ministers of his own government turned against him.

The announcement of forced separation was preceded by many commotions.

Johnson however, has not rejected the idea that he might return to politics one day.

In an interview with Times Radio on Thursday morning, Johnson compared sworn politicians to cockroaches with a strong desire to survive and get on with their jobs. He has also compared politicians to wasps swarming a jam jar.

Johnson’s book is expected to be a sales success. The Guardian news already last week that the memoir had shot to the top of the UK Amazon bestseller list even before its publication.

It has been reported that Johnson received an advance payment of more than 600,000 euros for the work.