“It’s very important that people should realise when you leave Heathrow or Dover, a British citizen is basically the responsibility of the Foreign Office”, Mr Johnson said of his new role.
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In a Thursday phone call from Paris, Kerry and Johnson “agreed that the USA -U.K. special relationship is as essential as ever” and pledged to work together as North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies in facing challenges.
May, who had supported Britain’s continued European Union membership, moved quickly to heal divisions sparked by the referendum by appointing leading “Leave” campaigner Johnson to a senior cabinet post.
Sweden’s former prime minister, Carl Bildt, took to Twitter, saying: “I wish it was a joke, but I fear it isn’t”.
But those supper plans, proposed by European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini to precede a routine ministerial council she will chair on Monday, have been thrown into disarray by the sudden acceleration in the British political process and the appointment of controversial Brexit campaigner Johnson.
May has appointed leading euroskeptics – including the unpredictable Boris Johnson and the formidable David Davis – to top global jobs in a Cabinet that sweeps away many members of predecessor David Cameron’s administration.
New Prime Minister Theresa May has promised to implement Britain’s exit from the bloc but has not said when she plans to trigger the formal exit procedure.
The tone of the call was “warm” and the two leaders discussed the importance of sustaining the special relationship between Britain and the US. Currently, it is unclear whether Britain will still continue to contribute to this target.
Mr Osborne, who riled colleagues with his stark warnings over the risks of Brexit before the vote, was replaced by Philip Hammond, previously the foreign minister.
New British Prime Minister Theresa May is clearing rivals from government as she assembles her new Cabinet team.
Gove led the “leave” side alongside former London Mayor Boris Johnson, then betrayed him by making a bid for Conservative leadership – a job Johnson had long sought.
But he was undercut by key ally (and campaign manager) Michael Gove, who pronounced Johnson unfit to serve and ran (with no success whatsoever) for party leader himself.
May is expected to name a raft of new ministers on Thursday.
Oliver Letwin, the former chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster who was axed as part of Theresa May’s cabinet shake-up, was appointed by David Cameron to be the architect of the UK’s negotiations with the EU.
“And on Europe clearly we have to give effect to the will of people in the referendum, but that does not mean in any sense, leaving Europe”, he added.
Other EU leaders are already pressuring Britain to open formal talks – and warning that the United Kingdom can not have access to the single European market without accepting free movement of EU citizens, a sticking point for many pro-Brexit Britons.
“The number one challenge is to stabilize the economy, send signals of confidence about the future, the plans we have for the future, to the markets, to businesses, to global investors”, Hammond told Sky News.
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Hammond said Thursday that there will be no emergency budget to deal with the economic fallout from Brexit.
