MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Johnson warns Europe of NATO's need of US

Johnson underscored the need for the US to remain the dominant Western power

According to former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, there is no viable alternative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to defend Europe, and he insisted the continent should increase military spending.

The Conservative leader wrote an article in the Daily Mail in response to criticisms from US Vice President J.D. Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who spoke ill of Europe's “freeloaders” who rely heavily on US support, particularly in the light of threats to trade from groups like the Houthis.

Johnson stressed that Europeans should not be “deluded” that there is an alternative “defense pillar” to NATO. He also highlighted the disparity in defense budgets, noting that the US spent about 3.5% of its GDP on defense—over US$ 1 trillion per annum compared to the UK’s 2.3%, despite a population only five times larger.

The US defense budget “is the thick end of a trillion dollars a year, more than 12 times the UK defense budget, even though the US population is only about five times bigger than ours,” Johnson wrote.

He rejected the idea of a separate European defense pillar, questioning which nation —France, Britain, or Germany— could lead it. Hence, he underscored the need for the US to remain the dominant Western power, particularly in supporting Ukraine.

While praising the UK’s planned defense spending increase to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, announced by PM Keir Starmer, he deemed it “only a start, and nothing like enough.”

Johnson also contrasted US and European work cultures, observing Americans’ limited holidays and lack of welfare protections, suggesting this fuels their frustration with Europe’s reliance on US defense efforts.

Therefore, he urged Europe to bolster its contributions to NATO to address these tensions and sustain the alliance, in line with US President Donald Trump's request that all European NATO allies should allocate 5% of their GDPs to defense.

”We Europeans have to keep the Western alliance together and yet answer the basic charge of freeloading. There is only one good way to get the US to take the defence of Europe seriously – and that is to show that we take it seriously ourselves,” Johnson underlined.