Ukraine’s government seemingly threw its weight behind Boris Johnson to be the next Tory leader by sharing a meme based on a popular television show – before promply deleting it after a social media backlash.
The tweet from its official government page was sent just hours after Liz Truss stood outside No 10 to tell the country she was resigning and a leadership election would take place imminently.
She quit after a chaotic 44 days in office that was characterised by financial turmoil, uncertainty and poor communication.
The early reported favourites are Penny Mordaunt, former chancellor Rishi Sunak and Mr Johnson, who has reportedly cut his holiday short to try and drum up support from Tory MPs.
Ukraine’s government also appeared to throw its weight behind the former prime minister by sharing a meme based on the popular Netflix series Better Call Saul.
The image shows the main character, Saul, holding a cut-out of Mr Johnson’s face, emblazoned with the words Better Call Boris.
Mr Johnson formed a close bond with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and in his final visit to Kyiv, received the Order of Liberty, the highest award that can be bestowed on foreign nationals.
But the Ukrainian government later deleted the tweet following criticism from Britons on Twitter.
Steve Peers, a professor of EU law at the University of Essex, said: “Have you considered not commenting on other countries’ political processes – with a view to not alienating your broad base of support, and because you simply don’t understand what’s going on there?”
Another Twitter user said: “Better call Boris what?! This tweet has to be a bad joke and not sure what intention of it is.”
Sir Keir Starmer Starmer said he was “rather surprised” by the Ukraine government’s now-deleted tweet.
The Labour leader told broadcasters: “I saw that tweet. I was rather surprised by it.
“But look, as far as Ukraine is concerned, my absolute imperative is to make sure that we’re all supporting Ukraine in the face of aggression from (Russian President Vladimir) Putin.
“So I was surprised by the tweet, but look, in the circumstances that they face, my absolute focus is on giving Ukraine all the support we possibly can.”
