Boris Johnson Tipped for NATO

By Staff, Agencies 

The British Telegraph reported on Wednesday that “Senior members of the Conservative Party are backing the prospect of outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson becoming the next NATO secretary general.”

The current chief of the US-led military bloc Jens Stoltenberg is “widely expected to stand down in September next year,” leaving the high-profile military position open, the paper said.

This timing would provide Johnson with “some time to recharge his batteries” after a three-year run as British prime minister, it pointed out.

The 58-year-old announced his resignation earlier this month after several high-profile scandals and a wave of resignations among his cabinet ministers. He’ll remain in office until September 6.

The NATO secretary general is appointed unanimously by all NATO members, and, according to The Telegraph, Johnson has a good chance of landing the job as he “won international credit for helping to build the international coalition against Russia’s Vladimir Putin” following the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine.

London has been one of Kiev’s strongest backers, supplying the country with weapons, training its troops, and advocating a military solution to the crisis, while also imposing sweeping sanctions on Russia.

The US would also prefer a British candidate for secretary general due to its “distrust around any European Union figures taking the job given repeated suggestions of plans for a new EU army,” the paper argued.