After Lenin's illness and incapacitation, Rakovsky joined Leon Trotsky's Left Opposition and came into conflict with Stalin. Although declining, his influence in Ukraine was, according to political scientist John P. Willerton, one of Trotsky's main bases of support, alongside sections of the Red Army, a group of Komsomol leaders, and various officials involved in economic planning. In early July 1923, after being isolated inside the Ukrainian leadership, he was removed from his Ukrainian post, replaced with Vlas Chubar, and sent to London to negotiate a formal recognition of the Soviet regime by the British and French governments. Chubar, an ethnic Ukrainian, came to represent Stalin's view on nationality issues in the region, officially defined as "nativization". In London, Rakovsky and his wife were joined by Elena Codreanu, whom they had adopted.