Mick Jagger meet on agenda as Javier Milei hosts Boris Johnson

President Javier Milei hosted Boris Johnson at Casa Rosada on Monday, spending more than an hour with the former British prime minister.

The Conservative Party politician gifted Argentina’s head of state a copy of his latest memoir but the headline takeaway – according to the government briefings at least – was an agreement that Johnson will try to organise a meeting with Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger.

The meeting between Milei and Johnson lasted more than an hour, and before leaving the government headquarters, the British leader went out to view the view from one of the balconies overlooking the Plaza de Mayo.

Government sources, cited by Perfil, commented that there was a “good understanding” and rapport between the two. So much so that Argentina's leader even told Johnson of his desire to meet Jagger, the legendary Rolling Stones singer who Milei once imitated in a covers band during his youth.

The sources said that Johnson himself offered to arrange a meeting and that they discussed a potential visit by Milei to England, so he could meet Jagger in person.

That prospect could potentially prove problematic for Argentina’s head of state, who would likely face a backlash from veterans of the 1982 South Atlantic war with the United Kingdom over the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands.

Waiting on a friend

Milei broke with his normal Monday routine to welcome Johnson at the presidential office of the Casa Rosada. 

The British politician, with his trademark messy mop of blonde hair, arrived at 3pm, carrying a copy of his latest book under his arm.

Local press reports said Johnson is visiting Latin America as part of a promotional tour for his memoir, which came out this week. 

He says the book delivers the "unfiltered truth" about Brexit, Covid and the Conservatives, though reviewers have been less kind.

According to the website of Picton, an investment advisory firm, the 60-year-old is scheduled to speak at a seminar in Santiago on Thursday. He will be interviewed by former UK ambassador to Chile David Gallagher and lawyer Gerardo Varela as part of his promotional tour. 

Unleashed charts Johnson’s rise in politics to become London mayor, before leading the ‘Leave’ campaign during the 2016 Brexit referendum, to becoming Tory leader in 2019 when he secured a landslide general election victory.

He was later ousted in disgrace by colleagues fewer than three years later following a series of scandals, particularly the illegal Covid lockdown-breaking parties at Downing Street.

– TIMES/PERFIL