Johnson had a call with US Secretary of State John Kerry, where they pledged to work together as North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies and Kerry offered US support for “a sensible and measured approach to the Brexit process”, a US spokesman said.
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After filling half a dozen of the top jobs Wednesday, including Boris Johnson as secretary of foreign affairs, May made a slew of new appointments Thursday.
Some of former prime minister David Cameron’s Cabinet ministers kept their portfolios, including Defense Secretary Michael Fallon, but most ministries were shuffled, with new ministers including Justice Secretary Liz Truss and Education Secretary Justine Greening.
“He’s a very prickly personality and doesn’t appear to be someone who has spent much time thinking about foreign policy”, she said, joking that the general reaction in Washington to the appointment was “shock and awe”.
The White House says he told May on Thursday that the US was committed to deepening the USA relationship with the U.K. Obama told her he looks forward to working with her during his final six months in office.
The spokeswoman said current relations “could hardly be described as cooperation”, adding that Russian Federation “will not miss [Philip] Hammond”, Britain’s former foreign secretary and new chancellor of the exchequer.
Mr Johnson is a former journalist who became MP for Henley in 2001 who was mayor of London for eight years.
Simon McDonald, Under-Secretary of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, tweeted a picture of Mr Johnson’s first meeting with staff as Foreign Secretary on Thursday.
The man at the centre of the storm said on Thursday that given the referendum result, it was inevitable that there would be “plaster coming off the ceiling in the chancelleries of Europe”.
The treachery left Johnson down and out – for two weeks – until May lifted him up again. He will now be responsible for worldwide trade, and will therefore be asked to prove with deeds his previous claims that Britain’s economy can thrive outside the EU.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier has previously criticized Johnson and other leading backers of Britain’s exit from the EU.
British Member of Parliament and Labour leadership contender Angela Eagle asked, “They’ve just made him Foreign Secretary?” adding, “Boris is fun, he is great”.
He shrugged off criticism from his European peers, including French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, who accused him of having “lied a lot” during the Brexit campaign.
Davis, who served under Conservative Prime Minister John Major in bruising 1990s dealings with the European Union, is one of the staunchest euroskeptics in British politics.
The libertarian Davis – a former special forces reservist who boasts that he has broken his nose five times – has sparred with May for years over the powers of Britain’s spy agencies, which she oversaw as home secretary and he thinks are too intrusive. “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”.
Ayrault claimed he was not anxious about working with Johnson but stressed the need for a “clear, credible and reliable” negotiating partner.
European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans knocked a past Johnson comment about President Barack Obama, who vocally opposed Brexit. “However we’re sure of one thing, that British-Turkish relations are more important than that and can’t be hostage to these statements”.
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In 2006, Johnson offended an entire country by linking Papua New Guinea to “cannibalism and chief-killings” in his newspaper column.
