Boris Johnson leaves 10 Downing Street in central London, after being appointed Foreign Secretary, by Britain’s new Prime Minister Theresa May
Britain’s new top diplomat is shaggy-haired, Latin-spouting Boris Johnson, who has made insulting and vulgar comments about the presidents of the United States and Turkey. And those are just his recent gaffes.
Johnson, 52, has made a long string of racist and insensitive comments dating back to his early career in journalism. He has apologized before and seems likely to do so again — he said after his surprise appointment that “the United States of America will be in the front of the queue” for his next apology, apparently because of his comments about President Barack Obama’s ancestry.
Johnson was a prominent leader of the successful referendum campaign to take Britain out of the European Union who harbored his own leadership hopes, making him a factor for Prime Minister Theresa May to deal with as she tries to unify the sharply divided Conservative Party.
But her decision to put Johnson on the world stage dealing with foreign leaders is raising questions, largely because of his propensity for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, sometimes in the most vulgar way.
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said he could not believe Johnson will now represent Britain abroad. He said Johnson must first apologize to Obama for referring to his “part-Kenyan” ancestry and then apologize to EU leaders for saying their plans for Europe were similar to Hitler’s.
“At this incredibly important time that will determine Britain’s economic and cultural relations with Europe, it is extraordinary that the new prime minister has chosen someone whose career is built on making jokes,” Farron said.
Some of his wounds seem self-inflicted. During the referendum campaign, Johnson chose to enter a British magazine’s competition for an offensive poem about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
He “won” — but the sexually oriented limerick was not well received in Turkey, a strategically important, predominantly Muslim ally.
In 2007 he described Hillary Clinton’s appearance as “like a sadistic nurse in a mental hospital.” And last year he said: “The only reason I wouldn’t visit some parts of New York is the real risk of meeting Donald Trump.” MDT/AP
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