President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Boris Johnson will likely be “more diplomatic” as the head of the British Foreign Office than his predecessors, the RIA Novosti news agency reported on Thursday.
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Harry Mount, a journalist, author and friend of Johnson, said the new foreign secretary was misjudged by many.
Johnson had hoped to become British prime minister but saw his dream fade amid last month’s vote in the Conservative Party. He said Johnson must first apologize to Obama for referring to his “part-Kenyan” ancestry and then apologize to European Union leaders for saying their plans for Europe were similar to Hitler’s. “But now there are completely different political tasks in the foreground”, he said Thursday to Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper.
Ayrault said: “I am not at all anxious about Boris Johnson, but you know his style, his method during the campaign – he lied a lot to the British people”.
“But if Boris Johnson can realise his potential. he will send that shot of adrenaline through the Foreign Office, through our diplomacy, that is so necessary right now”, Meyer told Sky News.
“The appointment of the new foreign secretary must be the most remarkable since the Emperor Caligula appointed his horse as a senator”.
“We will work constructively with the newly elected government in these hard times, as we have in the past”, the German politician said in a statement. It began with a big speech to 700 of our staff, I set out what we need to be doing and what we need to be focusing on and that is reshaping Britain’s global profile as a great global player.
A “map of all the countries Boris Johnson has offended” that went viral on social networks shows how that could prove hard.
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.
Lew spoke Thursday after meeting German counterpart Wolfgang Schaeuble on a tour of several European countries.
“It’s too early for most people to experience any direct economic impacts from Brexit, but fear for the future is clearly being felt by many”, said Bobby Duffy, managing director of public affairs at Ipsos MORI.
May came to power with a reputation for acting with careful calculation, but with her choice of the voluble, publicity-craving Johnson as Britain’s representative on the world stage, she appears to have thrown her customary caution to the winds.
Hammond said during Brexit negotiations with the European Union he will push for British access to the European market for London’s financial services.
The French minister said he needs a negotiating partner who is “clear, credible and reliable” for the upcoming negotiations on Britain’s stated desire to leave the 28-nation EU.
Britain’s new Treasury chief says there will be no emergency budget – even though there are questions marks hanging over the economy following the country’s decision to leave the European Union.
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Prime Minister Binalı Yıldırım described Johnson’s disparaging statements on Turkey during the Brexit campaign as “very unfortunate”.
