2024-01-29T18:45:45+00:00
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/ Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged, on Monday, to join the army in response to the call of Army Commander General Patrick Sanders, while Prime Minister Rishi Sunak rejected the idea of ”compulsory conscription of people.”
Johnson appeared in a video supporting the army chief’s call for a “citizen army.”
“Sergeant Johnson is taking over,” Johnson said in the clip. “I want Sanders to know that I have answered his call to create a new citizen army.”
“I will gladly do so”
He added: “I asked myself: Can I do this? Will I do this? Do I still have the fighting elements inside me?”
“Then I asked myself: ‘Will I sign up to fight for king and country? Of course I would gladly do so,'” the former prime minister said.
“I got the training”
Johnson, who has previously written columns about his struggles with his weight, insisted he had the necessary training for the military.
The head of the British Army, General Patrick Sanders, was planning to give a speech calling for civilians to be called up for conscription in the event of conflict “because the British Army is too small”.
Sunak rejected the idea.
He said the government would need to train and equip an “army of citizens”, forcing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to reject the idea and insist there would be no conscription of people.
However, Johnson insisted that he supported Sanders’ calls, adding that he himself would volunteer.
Earlier this month, The Telegraph revealed that the navy is so short of sailors that it has had to withdraw two warships from service to operate its new class of frigates.