Throughout his political career, Boris Johnson has often said things that later came back to haunt him. But as we approach the one year anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, one of the former PM’s most embarrassing blunders was his verdict on tank warfare.

Just three months before Russian forces launched their onslaught, Johnson clashed with Commons Defence Committee chairman Tobias Ellwood as he appeared before the Liaison Committee of senior MPs.

“We have to recognise that the old concepts of fighting big tank battles on the European land mass, which I think is what you’re driving at, are over and there are other better things that we should be investing in,” the PM said.

As Johnson set out that a shift to cyberwarfare made more sense, Ellwood retorted: “You can’t hold ground with cyber.” But Johnson, clearly needled by the exchange, was unabashed: “I don’t think that going back to a 1940s style approach will serve us well.” He added a final, mocking flourish: “You’re saying we should commit UK tanks to the defence of Ukraine…?”

Well, as we all now know, that didn’t age well. The past fortnight has been full of stories about Ukraine’s desperate need for battle tanks to both fend off an expected Russian spring offensive and to expel the enemy from more of its sovereign territory.

Far from the age of the tank being over, the old warhorses of armoured infantry are now central to any debate about the war’s progress. Germany has made the historic decision to allow its Leopard 2 tanks to join the conflict, the UK is sending a squadron of 14 of its Challenger 2s and the US is sending a battalion of 31 of its own Abrams tanks.

Only today, Rishi Sunak updated the Cabinet to underline just how pivotal the UK’s tank intervention had been as a catalyst for Germany’s move. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace also revealed that the Russians had lost two thirds of their own tanks so far.

Johnson claims to have got most of the “big calls right” in his premiership, not least on Ukraine. But on defence policy overall he has got several big calls wrong, not least his 2021 decision to slash the British Army from 82,000 personnel to 72,500 by 2025.

Given…