Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday slammed the current UK leader for threatening to recognize Palestinian statehood amid the ongoing war in Gaza, calling the move “ridiculous.”
Johnson signaled Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s commitment — largely following France’s lead — was aimed toward capturing voters’ attention, not promoting a ceasefire.
“It’s nothing to do with promoting peace in the Middle East. Is nothing to do with advancing a two-state solution,” the former leader of the UK’s Conservative Party said in an appearance on NewsNation’s “On Balance.”
“It’s everything to do with the continual oscillation of the Labor prime minister between his own two states, a state of paralyzed inaction and a state of panic about what’s going on in the Labor Party,” he told host Leland Vittert.
Johnson continued, “The problem in the Labor Party, the governing party in our country, is that they’re terrified of losing the votes of the Muslim community. It’s nothing to do with helping the Palestinians. It’s about managing his own party.”
The former leader, who resigned from his role in 2022 amid a scandal during the COVID-19 pandemic and following the U.K.’s withdrawal from the European Union in 2020, criticized broader efforts to recognize Palestine as a sovereign state.
“You’re not supposed to recognize a state unless it has clearly defined boundaries, plainly the state of Palestine does not. And it [must] have a government [that] is capable of controlling those borders and part of the government of the putative state of Palestine is the psychotic Islamic fascist terrorist group Hamas,” Johnson said.
He also described Palestinian statehood as a “big reward” for little accomplishment.
More calls for a two-state solution have cropped up in recent weeks, as humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip remain dire. The United Nations and other groups have pointed to reports of mass starvation and the blocking of aid into the region as cause for concern.
The Israeli government has denied such claims and said Hamas is promoting a deadly rhetoric to shame leaders. But Starmer and other nations have flocked to the frontlines, promising aid through air drops and medical treatments for the vulnerable as violence in the region continues nearly two years after Hamas’s initial Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
Democratic lawmakers, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (Calif.), have pressed the Trump administration to follow in the footsteps of the UK and France — as peace talks have stalled. The U.S. has not agreed to recognize Palestine as a state and Secretary of State Marco Rubio has pushed back on such calls.
The administration has also significantly reduced assistance efforts in the Middle East, including the closure of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and withdrawal from the United Nations Food Program.
