What next for Boris Johnson? His reply; other top quotes at HT Leadership Summit
HT Leadership Summit 2022: Coronavirus, India relations, Ukraine war figured in the comments by the former UK prime minister.
Boris Johnson's pursuits in near future include supporting the people of Ukraine as the war against Russia continues, the former prime minister of the United Kingdom said on Saturday as he spoke at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit. "I'm going to continue to represent my constituency in West London. I have got some projects, I'm writing some books. I'm going to continue to push for the things I believe in -- supporting the people of Ukraine, helping them defend against the invasion," he said as he further elaborated on his plans.
Here are the top quotes by Boris Johnson:
1) Vladimir Putin does not think that Ukraine is a "real country," said Johnson at the HTLS 2022 as he underlined that Russia will be defeated by the "sheer heroism" of the people in the war-ravaged nation. "This disastrous miscalculation by Putin will severely weaken Russia and greatly strengthen China, he said.
2) "China is giant fact of our lives. UK and India have massive trade relations with China. It is fifth of humanity. We have to work with China. We have to try to engage with China. But we also have to be very wary."
3) He also made some sharp observations. "When it comes to critical national infrastructure, we in the UK have learnt a very tough lesson. We went though a period of starry eyed idealism. And we thought we could have a golden era. We let China invest in civil nuclear, in 5G network. We then concluded that what was attractive in some ways was a risk that we simply couldn't take. And we have to undo it," he said.
4) "We should not let immigration be the problem. What matters with immigration is the public sense that it is controlled. People are not xenophobic or hostile to people from abroad. They want a sense that the government that they elect is in control of what is happening," Johnson said on immigration.
5) "People think that Ukraine was going to join NATO and Putin had reasons to think he was being militarily encircled. It's nonsense. Absolute hogwash"
6) “India has become the number one supplier of overseas students to the UK. Hundred and eight thousand Indian students in the UK are set to support our education industry.”
7) "One of the reasons we had a successful (Covid) vaccine rollout was because we had an independent medical health research agency... We had the first approved vaccine in anybody's arms anywhere in the world," said the former UK PM.
8) "There are more Indian-origin leaders in the UK cabinet than ever before. Even my replacement (Rishi Sunak) is of Indian-origin," he said.