A sticky end? Kyiv cafe names puff pastry cake after Boris Johnson as he fights for political survival

As he battles for his political survival in the UK, prime minister Boris Johnson has been honoured in Kyiv by having a cake named after him.

Zavertailo Cafe, one of Kyiv’s top bakeries, came up with the idea to thank him for the UK’s military donations to Ukraine.

Since the start of the Russian invasion, Britain has given Ukraine hundreds of millions of pounds and on Monday pledged to give it long-range weapons systems.

The puff pastry confection is designed to resemble the British prime minister’s hairstyle, which is depicted in cascading meringue. The cake, whose filling contains apple and cinnamon, costs the equivalent of £2.60.

Mr Johnson, who faces a no-confidence vote on Monday evening due to his party’s dissatisfaction with his leadership, held a phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday.

The British leader confirmed a new package of support for Ukraine, according to Mr Zelensky, who added that Mr Johnson was helping him to look for “ways to avoid the food crisis and unblock (Ukraine’s) ports”.

Millions of tonnes of wheat and other cereals remain in silos at ports across Ukraine as a result of a Russian blockade, aggravating the global food crisis.

The cake naming is not the first time that Mr Johnson has been singled out for praise by Ukrainians. In April, a small town near Odesa in southern Ukraine decided to rename one of its roads after him.

For his support in Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion, the council of Fontanka ordered Mayakovsky Street to be changed to Boris Johnson Street.

“The prime minister of the United Kingdom is one of the most principled opponents of the Russian invasion, a leader in sanctions on Russia and defence support for Ukraine,” the council said.

To express his solidarity with Ukraine, Mr Johnon visited Mr Zelensky in Kyiv in mid-April on an unannounced trip. During his visit, a Ukrainian woman thanked him by giving him a ceramic cockerel - a symbol of defiance after one was discovered intact in the besieged town of Borodyanka earlier in the war.

“The UK and others [will] supply the equipment, the technology, the knowhow, the intelligence, so that Ukraine will never be invaded again,” Mr Johnson said at the time.

“So Ukraine is so fortified and protected – so that Ukraine can never be bullied again. Never be blackmailed again. Never be threatened in the same way again,” he added.

The naming of a dessert in his honour may not be the most appropriate gift for the British PM, after he was “ambushed” by cake at a Downing Street lockdown party, one of the many times he was accused of breaching lockdown rules earlier in the pandemic.

In Monday’s vote of no confidence, Mr Johnson needs the support of at least 180 Tory MPs to retain his position. Scandals including Partygate have dented his reputation at home, leading to fears among some Conservatives that his party will lose the next general election if he remains in power.