In a surprise announcement Johnson, who had been seemingly cast into the political wilderness after the June 23 referendum, was handed a task that will inevitably be dominated by handling Britain’s departure from the European Union following last month’s vote to leave.
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Boris Johnson said he was “very humbled” to be appointed foreign secretary, and praised PM May for making a “wonderful speech”, saying there was a “massive opportunity in this country to make a great success of our new relationship with Europe and with the world”.
His appointment has already been savaged in Europe by French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault who called him a “liar with his back to the wall” and his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who said some of Mr Johnson’s behaviour had been “outrageous”.
The new Prime Minister appointed Liz Truss as the new Justice Secretary, while Justine Greening is now in charge of Education. In November 2007, he compared US presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton to a “sadistic nurse in a mental hospital”.
Challenged over whether Mr Johnson was ready to take over responsibility for intelligence agency MI6, Chancellor Philip Hammond pointed out that he would receive plentiful support from the “highly skilled and competent” civil servants in the “well-oiled machine” of the Foreign Office.
Johnson is not a popular figure among European foreign ministers.
Lesser-known than Johnson, but at least as important to Britain’s future is David Davis, the cumbersomely titled British secretary of state for exiting the EU.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said that Moscow is hopeful of better relations following Theresa May’s inauguration as Prime Minister.
But Mr Johnson’s appearance in the Cabinet office has raised eyebrows due to controversial comments he has made in the past.
While the exact negotiations that led to Johnson’s dramatic return to front line British politics are still unclear, he does have diplomatic and foreign experience, both in his former career as Brussels correspondent for the Times of London, and as mayor of the United Kingdom capital.
Johnson might write embarrassing columns for the Telegraph (for which he is paid £250,000 a year), but the appointment will, “keep him out of the country, unable to sustain a rebel following in the parliamentary party, and crucially, makes the Brexiteers responsible for the failures of Brexit”, the Spectator wrote.
Pushkov said that he hoped Johnson would not have the same “anti-Russian” views.
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For an “ordinary working class family”, she added, “Life is much harder than many people in Westminster realise”. After David Cameron quit as prime minister, Johnson’s campaign to succeed him ended on the same day as it began when he lost the backing of his principal supporter, Michael Gove.
