After filling half a dozen of the top jobs Wednesday – including surprise choice Boris Johnson as foreign Secretary – May made new appointments Thursday, including Justice Secretary Liz Truss and Education Secretary Justine Greening. “We have seen an effect in markets, we have seen business investment decisions being paused because businesses now want to take stock, want to understand how we will take forward our renegotiation with the EU, what our aspirations are for the future trading relationship between Britain and the European Union”.
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“Instead they went to play cricket”.
President Barack Obama has called new British Prime Minister Theresa May to congratulate her. The first woman to serve as Britain’s prime minister, the “Iron Lady” held that office longer (1979-90) than anybody else in the 20th century.
Boris Johnson, the former London mayor and “Leave” campaign figurehead in Britain’s European Union referendum, was appointed foreign secretary today in new Prime Minister Theresa May’s government.
Labour leadership contender and Wallasey MP Angela Eagle said she thought of the Hillsborough families when she learnt Mr Johnson had been made Foreign Secretary.
While foreign policy might not be a priority for many British voters, leaders around the world have voiced their concern with this appointment.
“Did you all see what his style was like through the campaign?”
“His back is against the wall to stand up for the interest of his country but also to make the relationship with Europe clear”.
During a speech in April she said of the British-American link: “I know as well as anybody the strength and importance of that partnership”.
In December, Johnson argued in a column in The Telegraph that Britain should work together with Russian President Vladimir Putin to defeat Islamic State extremists. “(But) the burden of his current job will most likely force him to adopt a somewhat different rhetoric of a more diplomatic character”.
The lack of respect between Johnson and the US seems to be reciprocal.
In Turkey, the pro-government paper Sabah expressed concern over Johnson’s previous statements in support of Kurdish PKK rebels fighting the Turkish state, and for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
“The book of Russo-British relations has always been awaiting someone to turn over to a better page in the history of bilateral cooperation”, Zakharova said, after noting the congratulations Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had sent Johnson. – Tim Farron, leader of Britain’s opposition Liberal Democrats.
As a newspaper columnist, Johnson used a derogatory term for black children when describing people in the Commonwealth and characterized people from Papua New Guinea as cannibals.
Johnson was in 2004 ordered by Conservative Party leader Michael Howard to apologize to Liverpool, because he had accused the residents of the city of wallowing in “victim status” because of public grieving after a Liverpool resident was taken hostage and slain in Iraq.
The appointment of Johnson, known for making colorful and often undiplomatic remarks, was met with surprise around the world.
His language was an apparent reference to Obama’s earlier warning that Britain would be in the back of the queue for those seeking trade agreements with the United States if it left the 28-nation EU.
Cher is not the first unlikely USA celebrity to jump into United Kingdom politics this year: actor Lindsay Lohan has agreed to turn on the Christmas lights in Kettering to apologise for insulting the town.
Ahead of last month’s referendum on European Union membership, Johnson compared the bloc’s aims with those of Adolf Hitler.
The cheerful, extroverted Johnson has had some notable successes.
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Mayor of London Boris Johnson got stuck on a zip-line during BT London Live in Victoria Park on August 1, 2012, in London.
