Former UK PM Boris Johnson showers praise on 'chainsaw-wielding' Milei

Former British prime minister Boris Johnson has heaped praise on President Javier Milei in a new opinion column, hailing his boldness in introducing massive spending cuts in Argentina.

In an article published by The Daily Mail, published five days after he was hosted by Argentina's leader at the Casa Rosada in Buenos Aires, the Conservative Party politician hails Milei for giving the “beautiful country the economic medicine it needs.”

In a piece titled  “the Argie President with the cojones to take a buzzsaw to big government, fight for freedom – and say he loves Mrs T,” a reference to ex-UK PM Margaret Thatcher, Johnson describes his visit to Milei’s “curiously darkened” office last Monday.

Johnson, 60, explains in the piece how Milei’s “orgy of calculated fiscal mayhem his popularity” has trimmed public spending yet still retains “astonishingly high” popularity.

“He has axed the crazy state subsidies on fuel. He is abolishing the deranged Peronist taxes on exports. He is taking on the unions of the state-owned airline, and he is at war with the academics of the state-funded universities,” Johnson tells readers.

Claiming incorrectly that inflation was running at 58 percent per month (it was 25.5 percent when Milei took office last December), Johnson states he is “willing him on” to “succeed for the sake of Argentina and the world.”

He then details Milei’s previously stated admiration for Thatcher, the Conservative Party leader who was serving as UK prime minister in 1982 when Argentina invaded the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands.

Argentina’s current President, writes Johnson, is “an admirer of the woman who ruthlessly defeated” the military junta and “recaptured the islands.”

“Yes, amigos, he is a fan of Margaret Thatcher - and says so. That's courage; that's balls,” writes the Tory leader.

Milei “admires Thatcher for the same reason he admires Churchill – because she was a fighter for the one thing he believes matters most in economics, in politics and in life: freedom,” he continues.

The former PM, who was ousted from office by his colleagues in 2022, particularly praised Milei’s foreign policy approach.

“He backs the cause of freedom around the world – vigorously supporting Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Ukrainians in their struggle against [Vladimir] Putin’s neo-imperialist aggression. He vehemently backs  the Israelis against Hamas and Hezbollah,” writes Johnson. 

The Conservative Party leader goes on to argue that Milei’s rise to power in Argentina should be closely watched by Brits, criticising the current Labour government led by Sir Keir Starmer. 

“You may think that Milel's mission has no relevance to us in Britain – and there I am not so sure. Can we really say we are getting the right balance, here in the UK, between the powers of the state and of the individual?” asks Johnson.

“Milei is right about freedom. It is precious and it can be eroded. Under this Labour government ever more people's cash is being taken by the state, to be spent by government on our behalf, while the state is prescribing in ever more detail what we should do and say, even what we should think,” he warns.

“It will come to the point where one day we'll slap the table and cry enough!”

He ends with Milei’s trademark phrase: “Viva la libertad, carajo!”

– TIMES