France’s foreign minister has branded his British counterpart, incoming Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, a liar.
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“His back is against the wall to stand up for the interest of his country but also to make the relationship with Europe clear”.
“The secretary and Foreign Secretary Johnson agreed that the US-UK special relationship is as essential as ever”, State Department spokesman John Kirby says.
British Prime Minister Theresa May filled out her Cabinet posts Thursday, assembling a government that sweeps away many of her predecessor’s supporters and places strongly anti-EU figures in key worldwide roles.
“We have to give effect to the will of the people in the referendum, but that does not mean, in any sense, leaving Europe”, said Johnson, who led the victorious campaign to quit the bloc.
Germany’s influential Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, however, signaled a willingness to forget past statements by Johnson.
May spoke via telephone on Wednesday evening with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, Efe news reported.
The Guardian also quoted one unnamed European Union diplomat who said, “It is important to have someone in place who allows for calm and serene negotiations”.
In her first speech as prime minister, May stressed the importance on keeping the UK united. After sitting out 2015 due to a foot injury, she became the first woman since 1998 to take the NCAA 100/200 double.
Education secretary Justine Greening and Karen Bradley as new culture, media and sport secretary complete the female line-up of major Cabinet posts.
Johnson’s role in Britain’s negotiations over its future relationship with the European Union is likely to be limited because May is expected to create a new ministerial post focused exclusively on Brexit issues. Several senior figures in the former government of David Cameron have been fired as May puts her stamp on the government. Later, he took a more diplomatic, if still dim tone: “Boris Johnson is a shrewd party politician who knew how to use the Euroskeptic mood for himself”. Recounting a story about a bust of Winston Churchill that was returned to the United Kingdom, he wrote: “Some said it was a snub to Britain”.
In May, Johnson accused the European Union of trying to create a superstate, continuing what he called a thousand-year-old tradition of trying bring the continent together under a single government.
“And that is what we want to achieve and here in the Foreign Office we have such incredible skills, such talent, and I’m absolutely certain we have the people here who are going to be able to forge that global identity for Britain”.
But he said that “it’s also important to point out that the quicker we succeed in creating clarity, the better it is to limit possible risks”.
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”.
After the Brexit vote, European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker labelled Johnson and other Leave campaigners “sad heroes”.
He was the figurehead of the successful Leave campaign, but since the referendum had suffered widespread criticism and ridicule for failing to present a clear Brexit plan and swiftly dropped out of the leadership race won by May.
The flamboyant Johnson was seen as an effective cheerleader for London during his stint as London mayor, a tenure that included the successful 2012 Summer Olympics. Other cabinet members Oliver Letwin, John Whittingdale, and Nicky Morgan also left.
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May is expected to name a raft of new ministers on Thursday.
