Boris Johnson today paid tribute to NATO on the military alliance’s 73rd anniversary.
The Prime Minister, who is gearing up for a coalition summit in Madrid in June while war rages in NATO neighbour Ukraine, hailed the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, which was launched in April 1949.
Revealing the 30-member alliance’s flag will fly above Downing Street, the Conservative leader said: “Seventy-three years ago today, the founding members of NATO came together, united loosely by geography but bound more tightly by a shared belief in freedom and sovereignty.
“Three quarters of a century later that conviction and drive endures.
“It is that self-same freedom which the people of Ukraine are fighting for with every fibre of their being.
“As members of the greatest security alliance in the history of the world, we have a responsibility to give them everything they need to face down this barbaric attempt to subjugate the Ukrainian people.
“As the largest European contributor to the alliance and as a staunch friend to Ukraine, the UK will continue to do just that.”
The NATO flag will also be raised on board the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales, which is on Exercise Cold Response in the Arctic, at the RAF’s station in Romania and the Army’s base in Estonia.
