Boris Johnson was not comparing Brexit to the fight by Ukrainians against the Russian invasion when he named the two as examples of people deciding to “choose freedom”, Rishi Sunak has said, calling them “obviously not analogous”. Johnson prompted fury among political leaders in Europe, and opponents in the UK, when he made the comparison on Saturday in a speech to the Conservative spring conference in Blackpool. Saying the world faced a choice “between freedom and oppression”, the prime minister said: “And I know that it’s the instinct of the people of this country, like the people of Ukraine, to choose freedom, every time. “I can give you a couple of famous recent examples. When the British people voted for Brexit, in such large, large numbers, I don’t believe it was because they were remotely hostile to foreigners. It’s because they wanted to be free to do things differently and for this country to be able to run itself.” Asked about the comments, on Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday show, Sunak said: “I don’t think those two situations are directly analogous. Clearly, they’re not directly analogous. I don’t think the prime minister was saying they were directly analogous either. “One is a democratic referendum in a country where they were able to debate ideas in peace.” Pressed on why Johnson used the words, the chancellor declined to elaborate, saying: “I don’t think the prime minister did either. Look, people will make up their own minds. I certainly don’t think those two situations are directly analogous, and I don’t think he does either.” Asked if he agreed that the people of the UK, like those in Ukraine, would “choose freedom, every time”, Sunak replied: “I do think people in this country prize their freedom. Of course they do. And there’s lots of different ways they express that, whether it’s through elections, through referendums, and other democratic means.” The Conservative MP Robert Halfon also played down Boris Johnson’s comparison of Brexit to Ukraine’s fight against Russian invasion. Halfon, the MP for Harlow who chairs the education select committee, told BBC Breakfast: “I don’t think it is as big a deal as some people are making out. “The way I see it is the prime minister was saying we’re a vibrant democracy. We’re such a vibrant democracy, we’ve had a referendum. Ukraine wants to be a vibrant democracy and the Russians are trying to stop that.” Asked if he thought the comments were “an insult to every Ukrainian”, he said: “Absolutely not. No, I think the Ukrainians will be looking at what has been done in practice – £200m of aid, as I’ve said, providing them with military support.” Speaking on Sophy Ridge on Sunday, Labour’s Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, called on Johnson to apologise: “It is utterly distasteful and insulting to compare the fight for freedom and the aggression of the Russia state to the decision to leave the European Union.
“It is insulting to the Ukrainian people, who are fighting for their very freedom and their very lives, and it is insulting to the British people as well. If the prime minister didn’t mean that analogy he shouldn’t have made it.” Johnson’s remarks caused particular astonishment given that Ukraine has sought EU membership, and because of the suggestion that the EU is a form of tyranny to be escaped from. Guy Verhofstadt, the former Belgian prime minister who led the European parliament in Brexit negotiations, described the comments as “insane”. “Brexit was about undoing freedoms and leaving the EU,” he said. “Ukrainians want more freedom and to join the EU.”