Boris Johnson appointed UK foreign secretary by new PM Theresa May
Source: RT - Russia Today
The former London mayor and leader of the Leave campaign, Boris Johnson, has been appointed Foreign Secretary in the cabinet of the new British prime minister, Theresa May.
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Britain's Queen Elizabeth welcomes Theresa May at the start of an audience in Buckingham Palace, where she invited her to become Prime Minister, in London July 13, 2016. © Dominic LipinskiTheresa May becomes new UK prime minister
The Queen has been pleased to approve Johnsons appointment as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, the British government website said.
Earlier, it was announced that Philip Hammond would replace George Osborne as the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Britains finance minister.
"The Rt Hon George Osborne MP has resigned from Government," Number 10 said.
Michael Fallon will keep his post of Defense Secretary in the new government, the Independent reported.
New appointments in Mays cabinet are expected to be made during the evening.
Read more: https://www.rt.com/uk/350946-boris-johnson-may-cabinet/
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,033 posts)brush
(53,836 posts)joshcryer
(62,276 posts)Makes sense. Put the man who made Brexit happen in place of acquisition of new trade deals.
840high
(17,196 posts)joshcryer
(62,276 posts)Boris has a hell of a job going forward.
MowCowWhoHow III
(2,103 posts)Boris Johnson has won a £1,000 prize for a rude poem about the Turkish president having sex with a goat.
The former mayor of Londons limerick, published by the Spectator as a rebuff to Recep Tayyip Erdoğans efforts to prosecute a German comedians offensive poem, also calls the president a wankerer.
Johnson, a former editor of the magazine, won the Spectators President Erdoğan offensive poetry competition, despite judge Douglas Murray saying the contest had received thousands of entries. The prize money has been donated by a reader.
The limerick was written off-the-cuff by the Conservative MP during an interview with the Swiss weekly magazine Die Weltwoche.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/may/19/boris-johnson-wins-most-offensive-erdogan-poem-competition
muriel_volestrangler
(101,355 posts)When I saw a link on The Guardian for it, I thought it could be a bit of satire. It's that brain-dead a decision.
Johnson's insult of Erdogan may have been deserved, but this is the guy who insults entire cities in the UK. And they put him in charge of diplomacy?
Theresa May - a fuck-up as PM on day one.
ozone_man
(4,825 posts)is an asshole and a cultural Nazi, a defender of ISIS, who refuses to acknowledge the Armenian genocide. And he is our ally.
Oh well, I expect as much from the U.S. and E.U.
T_i_B
(14,745 posts)What's even worse is that Boris & Co won the referendum with a load of wildly untrue scare stories about Turkey joining the EU.
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)Appears the so called Royal Family is all in with this Brexit move. They just do not get it in the UK,after thirty years of Austerity and their Manufacturing Base decimated,you what do they have left,Banking and Insurance,and their portion of the Aero-Space industry is about done with the new Import and Export rules to come. But,what the heck,Empire Rules.
OnDoutside
(19,969 posts)24601
(3,962 posts)the elected government. Even the Queen's annual Christmas speech is written by the government.
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)Remember the Royals are dependent on the Commoners for their day to day living. Yes they have large Royal Dutch Shell holdings,and they are not about to spend any of that. The Royals try their best to appear to be at arms length,but the dependence is. growing with each passing year
zazen
(2,978 posts)Even your right-wing politicians are better-read than 80% of the American electorate. I have a doctorate and felt so STUPID as he rattled off in Classical Greek and opined about Virgil (as reflected in his books, that I think he himself WROTE).
It's not that I agree with his conclusions but good Lord, our mainstream discourse in American culture just keeps getting dumber and dumber. We've become a culture of tweet-length reflection.
Mass
(27,315 posts)He studied Classics at Balliol College, Oxford, where he was elected president of the Oxford Union in 1986.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Johnson
I did not know he was born in New-York City. Apparently, he has American citizenship and is fluent in many languages.
This is the difference between Trump. As offensive as Johnson is, he is competent. Trump is not.
I suspect that if Boris Johnson was actually competent Michael Gove would not have stabbed him in the back during the Tory leadership contest.
villager
(26,001 posts)You've found that in current American culture?
T_i_B
(14,745 posts)Also, David Davis in charge of leaving the EU and Liam Fox in charge of international trade. This will not turn out well for Britain.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,355 posts)and who thinks we should be just like the USA?
Oh fuck, it gets worse and worse. I had no expectation May would be this bad.
T_i_B
(14,745 posts)...but US trade regulations (especially ISF) can do one. This bollocks is exactly why I campaigned for us to remain in the EU.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,355 posts)Explanation of Fox's past, for DUers in general. 'Fox guarding the henhouse' is the obvious metaphor:
Lets remind ourselves what Fox did. He allowed his close friend and best man, Adam Werrity, to take up an unofficial and undeclared role in which he attended meetings at the Ministry of Defence without first obtaining security clearance. Werrity had access to Foxs diary, printed business cards announcing himself as his advisor, and even joined him at meetings with foreign dignitaries.
An investigation by then cabinet secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell found that Fox had shown a lack of judgement by blurring the lines between his official role and his personal friendships. His report concluded: The disclosure outside the MoD of details about future visits overseas posed a degree of security risk not only to Dr Fox, but also to the accompanying official party.
Once upon a time a porous boundary between the personal and the professional, especially when it touched on matters of national security, was a breach big enough to end a career. John Profumo left politics altogether and spent 30 years cleaning toilets to atone for his mistakes. Fox, though, has hung around the back benches feeling hard done by and waiting for the moment to return to his rightful place. He is, in the most literal sense, shameless.
The media must take its share of the blame for this. Foxs slow motion rehabilitation has been enabled largely by the fact that time-pressed reporters and producers have often turned to him when they need a good quote attacking the government from the right. Under the circumstances, it probably felt a bit off to make too much of his ignominious departure from office.
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2016/02/less-shameless-world-liam-fox-s-career-would-have-ended-2011
Officially it was a charity; in fact, Fox's thinktank was a meeting place for the movers and shakers of the right wing
...
Admittedly, senior Tory cabinet ministers had been scrambling to distance themselves from the Atlantic Bridge long before the scandal brought Fox down. The organisation's website and that of its sister charity across the Atlantic has been dismantled. But old caches of the site reveal that, while shadow ministers, George Osborne, Michael Gove, Chris Grayling and William Hague were all on its advisory council alongside Fox, its UK chairman. All four stood down as awkward questions over its political activities, which contravened charity laws, resulted in the organisation being wound up.
But the links to the cabinet do not end there. Cara Usher-Smith, the director of business development at Iain Duncan Smith's Centre for Social Justice, was a former director of the Atlantic Bridge. David Cameron's press secretary, Gabby Bertin, admitted last week that she was paid £25,000 by the US drug giant Pfizer when working as the "sole employee" of the charity. Other senior Tories, notably Michael Ancram and Michael Howard, attended its receptions. Sir John Major gave a keynote speech at one of its US fundraisers. Its formidable connections to leading Tories were eclipsed only by its links to senior members of the US Republican party. The Republican senator for Arizona and Senate minority whip, Jon Kyl, and Jim DeMint, a Republican senator for South Carolina and a leading light in the Tea Party movement, were two powerful American members of its advisory council.
...
He was preaching to the converted. The Atlantic Bridge's addresses and conferences were all about promoting market liberalisation. A typical theme of one conference, held in both Los Angeles and Pittsburgh in July 2006, was entitled "Killing the Golden Goose How Regulation and Legislation are Damaging Wealth Creation". An earlier address in 2003 asked: "How Much Health Care Can We Afford?"
...
But in 2007 the Atlantic Bridge's relationship with big business entered a new realm, one that threatens to pose uncomfortable questions for Cameron and his party. The organisation signed a special partnership with the American Legislative Council (Alec), whose motto is "Limited government, free markets, federalism".
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2011/oct/15/liam-fox-atlantic-bridge
LeftishBrit
(41,209 posts)LeftishBrit
(41,209 posts)Seems like May is being politically bribed/ held hostage by our worst elements.
I have generally opposed pure PR because it gives extremists the power to hold governments hostage, as governments depend on small parties to survive. But right now we're having the worst of all worlds: the extremist elements associated with a PR system, without the democracy of PR.
Why did we ever have this fucking referendum?
Never would I have thought I'd ever wish to have Osborne back, in preference to some of this lot!
NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)MowCowWhoHow III
(2,103 posts)https://twitter.com/PA/status/753335341306621952
muriel_volestrangler
(101,355 posts)The Labour leadership candidate brought up her referendum debate performance, where she told Johnson to stop using the £350m figure. Oh Boris, isnt he great for just bouncing around, she joked.
A cry went up from the audience: Hes the foreign secretary! Eagle laughed initially, but then looked thunderstruck. Boris?! she exclaimed, then temporarily lost for words.
There was uproar in the room, Labour MPs turned to each other, are you serious?! one shouted. Eagle finally regained her composure: All I can say is never ever say that having a Labour government elected isnt important.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/live/2016/jul/13/pmqs-cameron-may-reshuffle-labour-leadership-bid-as-mcdonnell-defends-claim-that-anti-corbyn-plotters-fucking-useless-politics-live?page=with:block-5786a001e4b08239dbab7232#block-5786a001e4b08239dbab7232
muriel_volestrangler
(101,355 posts)Let that sink in. And then, for dessert:
Guppy, who declares he believes himself to be a "potential psychopath", gives "his word of honour" that Johnson's role in the assault will remain undetected.
When Johnson expresses concern about how severe the beating will be, Guppy tells his friend: "I guarantee you he will not be seriously hurt. He will not have a broken limb or broken arm, he will not be put into intensive care or anything like that. He will probably get a couple of black eyes and a ... a cracked rib or something." The revelation prompts Johnson to ask, "Cracked rib?" and Guppy to reply: "Nothing which you didn't suffer at rugby, OK? But he'll get scared."
On the tape, Johnson appears to be afraid his role in supplying the personal details will be found out and seeks reassurance from his friend that it will not. At the end of the conversation, Johnson is heard saying: "OK, Darrie, I said I'll do it and I'll do it. Don't worry."
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/mar/29/boris-johnson-channel-4
forest444
(5,902 posts)Who'll be the next Minister of Education? Leon Brittan?
suffragette
(12,232 posts)Much, much worse, in this case.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,355 posts)Some said it was a snub to Britain. Some said it was a symbol of the part-Kenyan presidents ancestral dislike of the British empire of which Churchill had been such a fervent defender, said Johnson in an article designed to hit back at Obama after the US president waded into the EU referendum debate on Friday.
...
Churchills grandson Nicholas Soames, a Conservative MP backing the remain campaign, called Johnsons article appalling and said it was inconceivable that the wartime leader would not have welcomed Obamas views.
He said Johnson was unreliable and idle about the facts, claiming there was still a Churchill bust inside the White House.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/22/boris-johnson-barack-obama-kenyan-eu-referendum
malthaussen
(17,216 posts)Eugene
(61,938 posts)Source: The Guardian
European politicians react with anger and dismay to Theresa Mays
decision to appoint Johnson as foreign secretary
Angelique Chrisafis in Paris, Luke Harding in London and Arthur Neslen in Brussels
Thursday 14 July 2016 16.21 BST
Europe has reacted furiously to Boris Johnsons appointment as the UKs foreign secretary, with the French and German foreign ministers respectively calling him a liar with his back to the wall and someone whose behaviour has been monstrous.
Senior European politicians made little effort on Thursday to hide their disgust at Johnson, whom they blame for Britains vote to leave the EU. Their anger is fuelled by the widespread perception that he cynically lied to the British public about Brexit and dodged responsibility in the immediate aftermath.
Frances foreign minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, who met Johnson when the two men were both mayors, was asked on French radio if he was surprised by Johnsons appointment. I dont know if it surprised me, he said. Its a sign of the British political crisis that has come out of the referendum vote.
He said France needed a partner it could negotiate with who was clear, credible and who could be trusted. The Europe 1 radio interviewer told Ayrault: Ive got the impression youre scared of being faced with the fanciful Boris Johnson?
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/14/french-foreign-minister-boris-johnson-is-a-liar-with-his-back-against-the-wall
whistler162
(11,155 posts)Ottoman Empire government at the end now Boris is in the UK government at its end(maybe).
https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/ali-kemal-martyred-journalist-and-iconic-traitor/#!