LONDON, JUL 1 - The values of liberalism "are immortal and will win": word of Boris Johnson, favorite candidate for Downing Street, who today rides his weekly column on the Telegraph not only to wave the flag of Brexit or to make new promises from future British prime minister, but also to argue with Vladimir Putin. To the Russian president, who in the Financial Times had indicated liberalism as obsolete in the eyes of vast popular strata, Johnson replied dryly. The United Kingdom today represents "the best example of the triumph" of liberal doctrines, he writes, extolling it as a winning balance between democracy and the rule of law and as a leading nation "in technology, culture, financial services". Turning then familiarly to Putin by name, he is targeting "those countries, Vladimir, where capitalism is believed to be in the hands of oligarchs and accomplices, journalists are shot and 'liberal values' are mocked".