the times | Wednesday February 23 2022 2GM 7News
Hobbesianism. Earlier she had been
fiddling with her tresses, betraying a
tattoo on the nape of her neck. An
SAS dagger, by the look of it.
The Commons wanted much
sharper sanctions. “Hit them hard
and hit them now,” demanded Sir
Iain Duncan Smith (C, Chingford).
Liam Byrne (Lab, Birmingham
Hodge Hill) thought the measures
“a slap on the wrist”. Byrne came
over all Kenneth Williams and
called it “a day of infamy”.
Johnson insisted “we will go
further” but when jumpy Tan Singh
Dhesi (Lab, Slough) told him never
to play tennis with another Russian,
the prime minister hoped MPs’
anger would not “spill over into
casual Russophobia”. Nickie Aiken
(C, Cities of London & Westminster)
asked if oligarchs’ children should
be kicked out of our public schools.
Johnson disagreed. The sins of the
parents should not be visited on their
children, said the son of Stanley.
Tobias Ellwood (C, Bournemouth
E), the thinking woman’s David
Gandy, spoke of “Putin’s plan to
pivot Russia ever closer to China”.
Ah, “pivot”. That word is always agiveaway. Dame Margaret Hodge
(Lab, Barking) began her
contribution with “according to
expert legal advice I have seen”.
She’d been at the Daily Express
again.
Tom Tugendhat (C, Tonbridge &
Malling) and Lady May
(C, Maidenhead), after orating
with theatrical bottom, soon
scarpered from the chamber, one
no doubt for the TV studios, the
other probably for a spot of
nosebag.
Jeremy Hunt (C, South West
Surrey) had to wait longer for his
lunch. Speaker Hoyle did not call
this former foreign secretary until
after we had heard the geopolitical
views of David Morris, the former
crimper from Morecambe. Poor
Jeremy.
Starmer accepted that there
might be some logic in keeping
further sanctions up the barrel but
MPs had the scent of fox in their
snouts. The longer the day lasted
— by teatime we had the
legislation for sanctions — the
more this lust for punishment
became a theme.waged without a shred of
justification, for the absurd and even
mystical reasons that Putin
described last night,” he said.
“A dark day for Europe,” agreed a
solid Sir Keir Starmer. “A dark day
for the people of Ukraine,” growled
the SNP’s Ian Blackford. “Darkest of
moments,” echoed Sir Archibald
Davey, leader of the Lib Dems.
“Putin has made a terrible mistake,”
added Davey, a connoisseur of such
things. The Lib Dems were in such
martial mode, it was a surprise
Layla Moran was not dressed in
battle fatigues.
Jeremy Corbyn (Ind, Islington N)
sidled into the chamber after 15
minutes but he did not stay long. By
the Speaker’s chair stood a phalanx
of Johnsonian stalwarts,
impressively jowly, tummies
barrelled, eyes like basset hounds:
Cleverly, Heappey, Double,
“Plodder” Adams. Their leader, ever
wise to what constitutes a talking
point on Good Morning Britain,
argued against Putin “dragging our
continent into a Hobbesian state of
nature”. Angela Rayner went a bit
still at this mention ofEnergy bills and petrol prices could
spike because of Russia’s “irrational”
decision to invade Ukraine, the prime
minister said.
Germany yesterday blocked the
approval of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipe-
line from Russia after President Putin
ordered troops and tanks into break-
away regions in eastern Ukraine.
In response Russia warned that
Europe would face a “brave new world”
in which gas prices could double. While
Britain is not dependent on Russia for
gas, the conflict could push prices to
new record levels.
Boris Johnson was asked in the Com-
mons about the risk of rising gas and oil
prices by Robert Halfon, a senior Tory
MP who has campaigned on the cost of
living.
Johnson replied: “He is quite right
that one of the risks of Putin’s venture is
that there could be a spike in gas prices,
in oil prices. The government will do
everything we can to mitigate it and
help the people in this country but it’s
one of the reasons why the whole of
western Europe has got to end their
dependence on Russian oil and gas.”
British households are already strug-
gling with soaring energy bills because
of increasing wholesale gas prices,
which has led to a series of companies
going into administration.
From April, the energy price cap will
rise by 54 per cent to nearly £2,
because of rising wholesale prices.
Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, hasI
n threatening the innocent
people of Ukraine and violating
its sovereignty, President Putin
is also undermining Europe’s
security and stability. We will
use every lever at our disposal to stop
him in his tracks.
Time after time, we and our allies
have said that any further invasion
would have severe consequences.
Now Russia has chosen to abandon
diplomacy, we have a moral duty to
stand with Ukraine and demonstrate
that we mean what we say.
We have put in place our toughest
sanctions regime against Russia.
Nothing is off the table. This first
wave will target the individuals and
companies closest to the Kremlin. I
held a conference call with our G
allies to agree the next package. This
is the start of a closely co-ordinated
effort to ratchet up the pressure.
We will be curtailing the ability of
the Russian state and key Russian
companies to raise funds on our
markets, and further isolating
Russian banks’ ability to operate
internationally. We have already
frozen the assets and imposed travel
bans on three leading members of
the Russian elite. We have also
frozen the assets of five banks activeNothing is off the table in our
response to Putin’s aggression
in bankrolling the occupation and
propping up Russia’s defence sector.
We are looking at sanctioning
members of the Russian Duma and
Federation Council. And we will
extend the territorial sanctions
imposed on Crimea to the separatist-
controlled territories in the Donbas.
No UK individual or business will be
able to deal with these territories
until they are returned to Ukraine.
We have a long list of those
complicit in the actions of the
Russian leadership. Should Russia
refuse to pull back its troops we can
keep turning up the heat, targeting
more banks, elites and companies of
significance. We will introduce
measures to limit Russia’s ability to
trade and prohibit a range of high-
tech exports, degrading the
development of its military-
industrial base for years. In time,
even those close to President Putin
will come to see his decisions this
week as a self-inflicted wound.
We will work in lockstep with our
allies including the US and the rest
of Nato. If we don’t stand up now,
Russia’s strategy of aggression will
not end. Instead President Putin’s
focus will simply move on to the next
target. While Russia seeks to turn
back the clock to a mythical past, we
are standing with Ukraine in defence
of its right to decide its future.Liz Truss
Comment
Listen to the foreign secretary on
Times Radio at 7.20am todaybusinessman was sanctioned with Igor Rotenberg, above, and Boris Rotenberg, Igor’s uncle, pictured with his wife, KarinaNews
with close links to the Kremlin
Risk of big rise in
oil and gas prices
announced a £9 billion package to
mitigate the impact of price rises but
has not ruled out further interventions.
Nord Stream 2, which consists of two
parallel pipelines connecting the
Russian Baltic coast with northern
Germany, has been designed to double
central Europe’s direct gas imports
from Russia, bypassing Ukraine.
Ultimately owned by Gazprom, the
Russian state energy conglomerate, it
was completed six months ago but has
been awaiting certification by German
regulators. The German government
will now withdraw and rewrite a report
it had previously lodged with the regu-
lator stating that the project would do
no damage to Europe’s energy security.
In effect this suspends the approval
process and means the pipelines
cannot begin pumping gas for the fore-
seeable future, although they could
enter operation if tensions with Russia
ease at a later date.
Dmitry Medvedev, the former presi-
dent of Russia and deputy chairman of
the country’s security council, said that
Germany’s decision to suspend the
pipeline would mean higher gas prices.
“Welcome to the brave new world
where Europeans are very soon going
to pay €2,000 for 1,000 cubic metres of
natural gas,” he said.
About half of British gas supplies
come from the North Sea and a third
through pipelines from Norway. The
remainder consists almost entirely of
imports of liquefied natural gas, which
arrive in Britain by sea.
Inflation fears as oil nears $100,
page 35Steven Swinford Political Editor
Oliver Moody BerlinSASHA MORDOVETS/GETTY IMAGESti d ith I R t b b d B i