At least one Briton was injured in the attack of Nice on Thursday night, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Friday.
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His appointment to the Cabinet office has raised eyebrows, with some referring to his controversial comments including the recent suggestion Barack Obama might hold a grudge against Britain because of his “part-Kenyan” heritage. After the “leave” campaign scored a surprise victory in the June 23 referendum, he seemed well positioned to succeed David Cameron as prime minister.
United Kingdom justice secretary Michael Gove, who had challenged May in the Conservative party leadership race, was among the first sackings announced earlier today from the post he held under former prime minister David Cameron’s Cabinet.
“I can not believe that Boris Johnson is now going to be the person to represent Britain overseas”, said Tim Farron, leader of the Liberal Democrats, a center-left party supportive of remaining in the European Union.
EU leaders including European Council President Donald Tusk condemned Johnson’s comparison during the campaign of the EU’s goals with those of Hitler and Napoleon.
Newly appointed Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson addresses staff inside the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in central London on July 14, 2016, as cabinet appointments by new prime minister Theresa May are made on her first full day in office.
Others took a more conciliatory view with the belief that Johnson as foreign secretary would be more temperate than his previous incarnations as Johnson the journalist, Johnson the legislator or Johnson the London mayor.
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.
However, the diplomat said, several European Union member governments opposed holding the dinner, saying it would amount to informal negotiations with London before May’s cabinet has formally notified Brussels of its intent to leave the bloc. “But now there are completely different political tasks in the foreground”, he told Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper.
Johnson had appeared destined for the political wilderness after backing out of the contest to replace Cameron as Conservative party leader.
May won the leadership battle and quickly sacked Gove, who is now seen as treacherous by many Conservatives.
He says it’s clear the “upcoming negotiations will not be easy” but said it’s “the responsibility of both sides to make the process of Britain’s withdrawal as smooth as possible”. “And I think we now have the opportunity to achieve that”, Johnson said.
Despite a litany of gaffes and insulting slurs against everyone from Liverpudlians to the people of Papua New Guinea, Boris will be Britain’s representative to the world.
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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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”.
