Theresa May: Strong support for Kyiv has restored UK's post-Brexit reputation
Former UK prime minister Theresa May has argued that the UK's stance in defending Ukraine against the Russian invasion has helped to repair its reputation damaged by the 'Brexit' process.
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"What happened as a result of Putin’s renewed invasion of Ukraine was that the West came together and the UK played a leading role in starting that sense that we had to respond," May said, speaking at an event at British think tank Chatham House.
May described Russian President Vladimir Putin as an "opportunist" who "saw a West less willing to stand up for its values, less cohesive, more inward-looking, looking to China, not responding initially to [Russian aggression in] Georgia and then Crimea".
"What happened in the West is we became a little bit complacent about the idea that after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the democracies that came into eastern European countries would think liberal democracy was obviously the way forward for everybody," she added.
The former prime minister, who served from 2016 to 2019, resigned after the withdrawal agreement she negotiated with Brussels was defeated in parliament three times.
Her successor Boris Johnson has since faced criticism over the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol he negotiated and for unlawfully suspending parliament.
May recalled "the way in which parliament handled it, the failure to get the deal through parliament and all that followed".
"I think it may have led people to look at the UK and wonder [why] this stable UK that they were used to seeing was having all of this going on in its parliament," she said.
However, she believes "the country is recovering" and that "the position the UK has taken on Ukraine has been a very important one", praising Johnson for the strength of the response.
Asked whether the UK should regret Brexit, May argued that "you don’t regret a decision that was taken by the British people by a majority".
"I think we have some adjustments to make," she admitted, but added that, as she has said all along, "the sky has not fallen in".
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