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New UK Prime Minister Theresa May appoints Philip Hammond as Chancellor

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. “And I know, because we’re Great Britain, that we will rise to the challenge”.

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She has already spoken to French President Francois Hollande.

He said: “We’ve today had warm words from our new prime minister about the need to stand up for more than a ‘privileged few”.

Later in the evening Mrs May made key ally Philip Hammond Chancellor of the Exchequer as George Osborne quit the government. He replaces George Osborne, whose determination to balance Britain’s books made him synonymous with austerity.

While Theresa may be happy with her decision, there’s one celebrity who certainly isn’t a fan of the former Mayor of London.

After leaving the London mayoralty in May he spearheaded the “Leave” campaign.

The man appointed to take charge is David Davis, who becomes Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union.

By awarding such a senior job to Johnson, she also showed a conciliatory side.

Last November local officials called off a visit to Palestine on safety grounds after Johnson, then-London mayor, told an audience in Tel Aviv that a trade boycott of Israeli goods was “completely crazy” and supported by “corduroy, jacketed, snaggletoothed, Lefty academics in the UK”.

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron attacked the appointment of Mr Johnson, pointing out that during the referendum campaign he compared the ambitions of the European Union with Hitler’s and “insulted” USA president Barack Obama by referring to his “part-Kenyan” ancestry. His warnings about Brexit’s consequences on the economy led many “Leave” campaigners to accuse him of scaremongering.

No sooner had Theresa May stepped into Downing Street than she had managed to unite the global community in bewilderment by her appointment of Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary.

Defense Secretary Michael Fallon kept his post, while Amber Rudd was appointed to May’s old job of home secretary.

May is Queen Elizabeth’s 13th prime minister in a line that started with Winston Churchill. “That will be the mission of the government I lead and together we will build a better Britain”.

The UK’s second female prime minister promised to give people who were “just managing” and “working around the clock” more control over their lives.

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In a tweet later on Wednesday, Pushkov also noted that Hammond, unlike the foreign ministers of France, Germany, and Italy, broke off most ties with Russian Federation after its involvement in the Ukraine crisis. Brexit! When do we want it?

Former London mayor Boris Johnson has been named the UK's new foreign secretary