Asked for a response to Mr Ayrault’s remarks, and his own record of undiplomatic comments, Mr Johnson said it was “inevitable that there would be a certain amount of plaster coming off the ceilings in the Chancelleries of Europe” after Britain’s Brexit vote, and they were “making their views known in a free and frank way”.
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As New UK Prime Minister Theresa May officially announced her first cabinet, UK news sources and political commentators have been surprised at the PM’s top four picks.
Boris Johnson arrives at 10 Downing Street in central London. Adding in his recent role as Brexit campaigner and his new job, I count that makes 8 already. Boris Johnson is called foreigners “piccaninnies” and “cannibals”, and once referred to Hillary Clinton as a “sadistic nurse in a mental hospital”.
But let’s see how this one goes.
Among all the newly appointed secretaries, Johnson’s post raised reservations in some foreign capitals as European leaders have responded with dismay and fury at the appointment of Johnson as Britain’s Foreign Secretary. He linked the European Union to Adolf Hitler and once compared Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party’s presumptive candidate for president, to “a sadistic nurse in a mental hospital”.
And he said he had received a call from US Secretary of State John Kerry, who called for “more Britain abroad”.
Ayrault claimed he was not anxious about working with Johnson but stressed the need for a “clear, credible and reliable” negotiating partner.
France’s Liberation reminded its readers that Johnson “has never held a ministerial post and a few days ago he pathetically withdrew from the race to lead the Tory Party”.
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.
“People [in the UK] are experiencing a rude awakening after irresponsible politicians first lured the country into a Brexit and then, once the decision was made, bolted and didn’t take responsibility”, Steinmeier said during a speech at Greifswald University.
Johnson’s appointment was blasted by the French and German foreign ministers.
Leaving the European Union doesn’t mean leaving Europe, Britain’s new foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, said while taking office on Thursday (14 July).
After six years as interior minister under David Cameron, May took office on Wednesday signalling her intention to start with a clean slate – before ruthlessly ejecting some of her former colleagues.
Mr Johnson found one ally, however.
In his column for British tabloid “The Sun”, Johnson said the decision was “a symbol of the part-Kenyan President’s ancestral dislike of the British Empire”.
Jessica Bridge, PR manager at Ladbrokes, said: “Time will tell if the Prime Minister’s gamble with Johnson pays off”.
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Former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, now the leading federalist liberal in the European Parliament, summed up the feelings of many on the continent when he tweeted: “Clearly British humour has no borders”.
