It didn’t take the former Mayor of London and one-time prime ministerial hopeful long to find himself another cushy number.
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French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said that, as a Leave campaigner, Johnson had “lied a lot” and said his appointment “reveals the British political crisis” following the referendum.
“I am genuinely anxious that he could become president”, Mr Johnson said in March. During the referendum campaign, Johnson chose to enter a British magazine’s competition for an offensive poem about President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
“I need a partner with whom I can negotiate and who is clear, credible and reliable”.
Mr Johnson gave an unflattering description of White House hopeful Hillary Clinton in a newspaper opinion piece.
Similarly, the head of the inter-party group on Russian Federation in the British Parliament, Sir Edward Lee believes that Johnson will most likely seek a “constructive relationship” with Russian Federation, according to RIA Novosti.
“Did you all see what his style was like through the campaign?”
“Clearly now we have a massive opportunity in this country to make a great success of our relationship with Europe and with the world and I’m very excited to be asked to play a part in that”, he said.
Ayrault said Brexit must now happen in the best conditions possible “and not to the detriment of the European project”. We can not let this ambiguous, blurred situation drag on in the interests of the British themselves.
In Berlin, there was dismay.
Hours before Johnson’s appointment was made public, Steinmeier lashed out at him without using his name, criticising “irresponsible politicians” who lured Britain toward a “Brexit”, then “didn’t take responsibility and instead played cricket”.
The French foreign minister denounced him as a “liar”. Twitter-user Claude Demougins tweeted: “Diplomacy according to Boris Johnson, new foreign secretary”.
Johnson’s German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, also appears to hold a dim view of the newly minted British diplomat.
European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans knocked a past Johnson comment about President Barack Obama, who vocally opposed Brexit.
Timmerman wrote Thursday, “Would it not have been enough to say that you disagree with the American president’s point of view?” An instant online classic was State Department spokesman Mark Toner’s reaction Wednesday, in which he digested the information even while formulating a carefully worded response about the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom transcending personalities. “But in the real world of a referendum on the future of your country the kind of arguments used have consequences”. Simone Peter, the co-leader of the Green party, compared Johnson’s new job to “trusting the cat to keep the cream”.
The former London mayor is popular in Britain and well-known overseas – not least for a colourful use of language regularly directed at foreigners, including White House hopeful Hillary Clinton and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“The EU is an attempt to do this by different methods”, Johnson told The Sunday Telegraph in remarks that caused outrage in Brussels. It continued a “dangerously vicious cycle” that will hurt Britain and Europe, Schulz said.
Mr Johnson powered into retired German International Maurizio Gaudino’s groin during a charity football match.
But quite apart from his inauspicious comments in the past, Johnson’s conduct and outspoken attacks on the European Union during the referendum campaign surprised diplomats.
Johnson may struggle to convince them that divorce from the European Union will result in closer cooperation and partnership.
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European Union leaders, still reeling from Britain’s decision to become the first country to leave the bloc in its 60-year history, pressed May for a quick divorce.
