Mr Johnson, then foreign secretary, in a Challenger tank with British troops during a NATO deployment to Estonia in 2017. Photo: Andrew Parsons/i -Images
Boris Johnson backed the head of the British Army's call for a citizen's army as he promised to join if Britain went to war with Russia.
The former prime minister made the comments after The Telegraph reported that General Sir Patrick Sanders planned to give a speech in which he would warn that civilians would be called up in the event of conflict because the British army was too small.
He said the government would need to “train and equip” a civilian army, prompting Rishi Sunak to reject the idea and insist there would be no conscription.
However, in his Mail column, Moreover, Mr Johnson insisted that he supported General Sir Patrick's calls, adding that he himself would volunteer.
“Yes, Sah! Lance Corporal Johnson reporting for duty, sir! he said, adding: “I want General Sanders to know that I have heeded his call for a new citizen army.”
“I saw him point the Kitchener-style finger at a portly and apathetic shape of the British public, and I was full of wild speculation,” he said.
“Does he mean me?” – I asked myself. Can I do it? Would I do this? Do I still have a fighting spirit?
Mr Johnson insists he has the training required for military training. Photo: Andrew Parsons/No. 10 Downing Street
“Once I asked myself the question – would I sign up to fight for King and Country? – than I received an answer. Of course I'd love to.”
Mr Johnson, who has previously written articles about his struggles with weight, insisted he had completed the training required for military service.
p>He said he belonged to the Combined Cadet Force from age 16 to 18, although he admitted he was not initially a “promising recruit” as he failed the Imperial test, which involved the safe cleaning, loading and firing of a specific rifle.
“I forced my platoon to spend a very wet and cold night out in the open on Salisbury Plain guarding what turned out to be the wrong stronghold,” he added, and also described his own performance in the exercise. as “chaotic.”
Despite this, Mr Johnson, who resigned as an MP over the partygate report which investigated whether he misled parliament when he told MPs there were no lockdown parties in Downing Street, stated that the overall level of discipline in teaching made it “unsuccessful”. a force for good.”
He added: “So rest assured – if it came down to it, I'd be there in the dugout with General Sanders, and I'm willing to bet there are a lot of readers who feel the same. »
Mr Johnson said he “may not be the fittest or the most agile of his recruits”, adding that he hoped and believed his services would not be required.
He said that although he does not believe in the inevitability of war with Russia, “the best way to deter the aggression of people like Vladimir Putin is to be strong.”
“That's why General Sanders is right in his most important point – that we must solve the current problems in the Armed Forces, and especially the problem of insufficient recruitment,” he said.
Earlier this month, The Telegraph reported that The Navy had so few sailors that it had to be decommissioned. two warships will man the new class of frigates.
Defense data for the 12 months to March showed the Navy, which has 29,000 full-time recruits, performed the worst of the three recruiting services as it recruited like the Navy , and the Royal Marines fell by 22.1 percent compared to last year.
The Air Force fell by nearly 17 percent and the Army by nearly 15 percent.
Mr Johnson said that while he believes the UK will spend 3 per cent of GDP on defense by 2030, compared with its current NATO commitments 2 percent, “we somehow fail to encourage young men and women to join the junior ranks.”
He said the failure was partly due to competitive wages in the private sector, as well as the possibility that the military had fallen out of style.
Mr Johnson pointed to the “growing moral squeamishness” of Generation Z. which, having seen the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, is not “flaming with combat fervor at the thought of participating in the next conflict.”
However, citing the Oxford Union vote in 1933 where many members who said they would not fight for king and country eventually did so, he said: “If it had come to that and they were called upon to save their country, I am sure they would have been just as full of right.” things like any generation in history.”
Mr Johnson said that to increase military recruitment, bans on certain tattoos would need to be lifted, as well as potentially relaxing some “extreme” fitness requirements.
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He added: “I don’t think any man or woman will ever regret joining the army.”
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