Boris Johnson met Argentina’s maverick leader Javier Milei in Buenos Aires, where the pair discussed everything from international politics to favourite British musicians
Argentina’s maverick leader Javier Milei reportedly lobbied Boris Johnson to help him fulfil his dream of meeting Mick Jagger.
The pair met in Buenos Aires on Monday, as Mr Johnson continues his publicity blitz for his new memoir Unleashed. They discussed everything from international politics, to religion, to abortion, according to local media.
Favourite British musicians was also a topic of conversation, where Mr Milei’s love of the Rolling Stones likely came up. The right-wing populist leader has allegedly been trying to meet the band’s front man Sir Mick for some time and Mr Johnson reportedly jumped on the opportunity to volunteer as a facilitator for the meeting.
Mr Milei later posted Argentinian newspaper articles on his social media mentioning Mr Johnson’s promise to “personally arrange” a meeting with the rock star. The South American leader, whose ideas include legalising the sale of human organs and abolishing Argentina’s central bank, won a landslide victory in a presidential run-off last November.
The radical former TV pundit, who is nicknamed “The Madman”, is also known for frequently waving a chainsaw above his head at political rallies. It is unclear whether Sir Mick would be up for a meeting with Mr Milei but the Rolling Stones have made clear they don’t endorse his political pal Donald Trump.
Sources close to the Argentinian president told the newspaper there had been “chemistry” between Mr Milei and Mr Johnson during the meeting, which was reportedly organised at Mr Johnson’s request and lasted just over an hour and a half. The ex-Conservative Party leader gifted Mr Milei a copy of his newly-published political memoir Unleashed. And Mr Milei posed up with the book between Mr Johnson and his wife Carrie, as they all put up their thumbs to the camera.
According to reports, the two men did not discuss the dispute over the Falkland Islands during the meeting, which was held at the seat of the Argentinian national government, Casa Rosada. In April Mr Milei vowed to establish a diplomatic “roadmap” towards the UK handing over sovereignty of the Falkland Islands to Argentina.
The issue has returned to the spotlight in the last fortnight after Keir Starmer announced a deal had been reached to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius after more than 200 years of it being a British territory. It sparked concerns about the future of the UK’s other overseas territories.
But the PM has given his strong commitment to Falkland Islands remaining British. Mr Starmer said the issue was a “personal” one for him because his uncle had nearly died defending the Falklands.
Mr Johnson has been critical of the Labour government’s decision to give up sovereignty over the remote set of islands in the Indian Ocean. He said he is “genuinely anxious” Mr Starmer will hand the Falklands to Argentina.
After the Chagos Islands deal was announced, Buenos Aires’ Foreign Minister Diana Mondino said: “The long dispute between Britain and Mauritius came to a conclusion today, with Mauritians successfully regaining their territory of Chagos. We welcome this step in the right direction and the end to outdated practices.”
She added: “With concrete actions and not empty rhetoric, we will recover full sovereignty over our Malvinas Islands. The Malvinas [the Spanish name for the Falklands] were, are and will always be Argentine.”
Mr Johnson’s previous visit to Argentina had been in May 2018 as Foreign Secretary when he held bilateral meetings with the nation’s then-President Mauricio Macri and his Argentinian counterpart at the time Jorge Faurie. It was the first visit by a British Foreign Secretary to Argentina in 22 years. Mr Johnson laid a wreath at the Monument to the Fallen in Buenos Aires, commemorating all those who died in the 1982 Falkland Islands War.
