But the decision shows that there is in fact some continuity from Cameron to May – the new prime minister is clearly willing to gamble with high stakes in order to try to make her life easier in Britain’s domestic politics.
Advertisement
But these domestic political calculations come with an worldwide cost that is too much for a country in crisis to bear.
Former Mayor of London and foreman of the Leave campaign, Boris Johnson have been made Foreign Secretary, despite believing that he would not be given a place on the front bench in a May-run administration.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Johnson is a crafty party politician who managed to use the Euroskeptic mood for himself.
Mr Ayrault earlier accused his new counterpart of lying, saying: “He lied a lot to the British people and now it is him who has his back against the wall”.
Other EU leaders are already pressuring Britain to open formal talks – and warning that the United Kingdom can not have access to the single European market without accepting free movement of EU citizens, a sticking point for many pro-Brexit Britons.
However, Wikileaks once provided an insight into what USA diplomats actually think of Mr Johnson, by leaking a cable reacting to his election as Mayor of London: “Johnson is best known as a mistake-prone former journalist twice exposed for committing adultery, now a Conservative MP”.
British Prime Minister Theresa May continues to fill out her government, appointing women to two top jobs.
Johnson, 51, worked in Brussels between 1989 and 1994 – a time when Britain’s hard relationship with the European Union was deeply strained by the Maastricht Treaty.
Asked if Britain would launch the formal process of quitting the European Union by the end of this year, finance minister Hammond told LBC radio: “No, that’s a decision that we haven’t made yet”.
Johnson announced that his new appointment made him “very humbled”.
“Hopefully he won’t have the painful anti-Russian complexes of his predecessor [Philip Hammond]”, Aleksey Pushkov tweeted after news of Johnson’s appointment broke. It is not seen joining the bloc for many years. Michael Eboda, editor of the now defunct New Nation, a newspaper aimed at the black British community, told Johnson “Some of the articles and comments you’ve put together have been extraordinarily abusive of black people”.
May is expected to name a raft of new ministers on Thursday.
“I need a partner with whom I can negotiate and who is clear, credible and reliable”.
He spent just thirteen days in the political wilderness but now Boris Johnson holds one of the great offices of state.
The White House says he told May on Thursday that the United States was committed to deepening the USA relationship with the U.K. Obama told her he looks forward to working with her during his final six months in office.
Hammond acknowledged that the Brexit vote has had “a chilling effect” on investment, saying “the No. 1 challenge is to stabilize the economy, send signals of confidence about the future”.
Advertisement
Hammond will meet with the head of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, on Thursday to “assess where we are”.
