Ukraine - not too late, we hope

 It is only a little contribution in terms of manpower, because that is all our depleted services can manage, but it is not too little to show that the UK is serious about defending a free democracy from the encroachment of an elected dictator. It is late - showing resolve against Putin a lot earlier would surely have prevented the shooting down of MH17 and may even have deterred the annexation of Crimea - but it is not too late to signal that Russian tanks will face not only Ukrainian resistance if they cross the border but also UK weaponry.

Even now, though, the preoccupation with "saving his own skin", as Sir Keir puts it, dominates the prime minister's thinking to the extent of cancelling a scheduled telephone conversation with the Russian leader. One is also reminded that foreign secretary Truss found time for an expensive PR visit to Australia as the tension in eastern Europe was mounting. So it is essential that the ruling Conservatives find a replacement PM with resolve - and clean hands - expeditiously.

There are similarities between the Johnson and Putin regimes. Both have put personal power ahead of the interests of the people they were elected to serve. Putin sees ultra-nationalism as the means to secure popularity. The virtual annexation of eastern Ukraine and the capture of Crimea are part of that. The threat to the rest of Ukraine is a continuation. But in following this path he has brought international economic sanctions down upon his nation, hobbling her ability to reach her economic potential and visiting a lower standard of living on the people who elected him. Johnson has not had the benefit of being able to throw critical journalists into gaol or worse, but seeing what the power of money has on the UK media, has had no need to. So far, he has been able to persuade the majority of the people in England and Wales that we are all better off as a result of Brexit when all the boring statistics point the other way. However, confirmation this week that a big national insurance increase is necessary merely to save the NHS, when the promise before Brexit was that the former contributions to the EU budget would pay for it and more, may well bring home to even the most avid Daily Mail reader that they have been deceived.

It may be questioned whether we owe the Ukraine anything. Well, at the very least the democratic West needs to uphold the right of freely-elected governments to govern. If Putin is allowed to con his way into Kyiv, then our former fellows in the EU come under threat. President Xi in China will be given the green light to take Taiwan by force. Smaller dictators around the world will be encouraged. But I also have a recollection that in the period of economic privation after the last world war, the workforce in the mines was augmented by workers from eastern Europe, in particular Hungary and the Ukraine. They were numerous enough to support Ukrainian and Hungarian clubs in some industrial towns in England and Wales. They helped us survive those dark days. We owe it to their descendants to save their nations, having survived Hitler and Stalin, from a new wave of dictatorship.