Dan Wootton: We should be grateful we have Boris dealing with Russia, not Putin apologist Corbyn

It’s the opposite of comforting that two leaders, who look increasingly senile, potentially hold world peace in their hands.

You’ve got the doddery, US president Joe Biden who, at 79 and amid speculation that he could be plagued by dementia, was barely able to stumble through a scripted address on the Ukraine crisis, let alone rally the western world behind him after his shameful Afghanistan withdrawal.

Then there’s the tyrannical Putin, who is a decade younger, but has been branded by the jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny as a “senile drunk grandfather” who would be funny if he wasn’t in charge of the nuclear codes.

Based on his fantastical and deranged recent addresses to rightly sceptical Russians, Navalny is not wrong.

It’s at this moment where the UK - and the world - should be grateful and relieved we have a steadfast and focussed Boris Johnson in charge, not a Putin apologist like Jeremy Corbyn who, we must never forget, Keir Starmer wanted to be Prime Minister.

As Boris rightly pointed out today, Labour remains full of leftie cranks who believe NATO is the aggressor in this Putin-created mess.

Corbyn retains significant sway in his former party, with the Corbyn Peace and Justice Project tweeting…

“Only dialogue will make a difference. This is the path that our own government must now pursue, rather than stoking up endless conflict.”

Now there has been much criticism, including from the Tory right, that Boris hasn’t gone far enough with his sanctions package.

But I trust the PM that this is the only the beginning, with stronger financial punishments in reserve to be unleashed the further Putin goes down this crazy and totally unnecessary path.

First to be targeted will be a larger group of Russian oligarchs and individuals close to Putin.

And the UK will send more weapons to Ukraine in days.

The hawkish Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has assured us that nothing is of the table. That is the right approach.

While I like to keep politics out of sport wherever possible, I agree with Truss that British clubs should boycott a potential Champions League final in St Petersburg in May, given the perilous circumstances.

The match must be moved to London.

The British response has shamed that Russian appeaser with small man syndrome Emmanuel Macron and showed moral leadership to the world.

Thank God Starmer didn’t get his way and have a Putin appeasing premier in Corbyn in place at Number 10 Downing Street - because the ramifications for the world would have been truly catastrophic.