![](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/139\/590x\/secondary\/Boris-Johnson-and-Emmanuel-Macron-4767873.jpg?r=1684825216970\")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/p>\nBoris Johnson has reportedly taken a fresh swipe at Emmanuel Macron over Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n
The ex-prime minister is said to have slapped down the French President over his warning against the Russian leader being “humiliated” amid his brutal invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Mr Johnson made the remarks during a private lunch organised by a pro-Ukraine think tank in Dallas as he headed to the US to drum up support among Republicans for war-torn Kyiv, according to Politico.<\/p>\n
Putting on a French accent, the 58-year-old told guests at the lunch: \u201cI think it was my French friend and colleague Emmanuel Macron who said \u2018Putin must not be humiliated’.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it takes an awful lot to humiliate Vladimir Putin, frankly. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s our job to worry about Vladimir Putin\u2019s ego, or his political prospects, or developments in his career.\u201d<\/p>\n
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In June last year, Mr Macron said the West must not “humiliate” Russia so that when the fighting stops in Ukraine a diplomatic solution can be found.<\/p>\n
He said: “We must not humiliate Russia so that the day when the fighting stops we can build an exit ramp through diplomatic means.”<\/p>\n
Mr Johnson led support for Ukraine and struck up a close friendship with wartime leader Volodymyr Zelensky when he was the occupant of No 10.<\/p>\n
He has continued to speak out in support of Kyiv, which has been under attack by Russia since February 2021.<\/p>\n
It comes after claims a furious Mr Johnson previously blasted Mr Macron as “Putin’s lickspittle” after the French President criticised the then-PM’s response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis.<\/p>\n
Don’t miss… <\/strong> Former Downing Street director of communication Guto Harri also said Mr Johnson called Mr Macron a “four-letter word that begins with c”.<\/p>\n He told his Unprecedented podcast: “When the British press was giving the British Government a hard time over our response to the refugee crisis, Macron turbocharged it by criticising Boris pretty directly and his words were all over the front page of The Guardian.<\/p>\n “Much as Boris is not prone to getting really cross, nor using particularly strong language, this was one where he really flipped at our morning meeting.<\/p>\n “He just launched into a violent attack on Emmanuel Macron.<\/p>\n “Basically, saying ‘He’s a four-letter word that begins with C, he’s a weirdo, he’s Putin’s lickspittle… We need an orgy of frog bashing. I’m going to have to punch his lights out’.”<\/p>\n Mr Harri said the two leaders had patched up their differences before a G7 summit a few weeks later.<\/p>\n The former No 10 official also said there was an “extraordinary bond” between Mr Johnson and Mr Zelensky.<\/p>\n Recalling a phone call on the night Ukraine was invaded, Mr Harri said: “It was massively sobering.<\/p>\n “We really could not believe that this was seriously underway. A superpower advancing on a neighbour who had done nothing to provoke it.<\/p>\n “Boris could not have been clearer that we were there to help Ukraine in whichever way we possibly could, using whatever we could possibly deploy within reason.<\/p>\n “The two of them had this extraordinary bond. And, dare I mention it, this kind of really dark gallows humour that was obviously a coping mechanism.”<\/p>\n
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