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uawchild

(2,208 posts)
Wed Jul 13, 2016, 03:13 PM Jul 2016

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.
Read more
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 Johnson’s 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, Britain’s 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 May’s cabinet are expected to be made during the evening.

Read more: https://www.rt.com/uk/350946-boris-johnson-may-cabinet/

33 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Boris Johnson appointed UK foreign secretary by new PM Theresa May (Original Post) uawchild Jul 2016 OP
O.o A deal? Boris dropped out of leadership race (tRump's evil twin, also unnaturally blond) . .nt Bernardo de La Paz Jul 2016 #1
My thought too. There was some sort of quid pro quo operating. brush Jul 2016 #3
So he's going to secure the new import and export treaties. joshcryer Jul 2016 #2
Seems appropriate. 840high Jul 2016 #27
No lose for the new PM who was for remain. joshcryer Jul 2016 #29
As an appointment this is Troll Level : Jedi MowCowWhoHow III Jul 2016 #4
Holy fuck, this is the biggest disaster Brexit has produced yet muriel_volestrangler Jul 2016 #10
This foolisness is a distraction from the fact that Erdogan ozone_man Jul 2016 #28
And now Boris has to deal with the Turkish coup T_i_B Jul 2016 #33
Ouch! Wellstone ruled Jul 2016 #5
The Queen does not comment on political stuff like that. OnDoutside Jul 2016 #7
I really doubt that they are. My experience from living in the UK is that the Royal family supports 24601 Jul 2016 #8
Agree to some extent. Wellstone ruled Jul 2016 #19
I was shocked to see him debating Mary Beard last year & show a decent knowledge of classics zazen Jul 2016 #6
Well, he got a good classic education throughout. Mass Jul 2016 #11
Competent? T_i_B Jul 2016 #14
"Reflection?" villager Jul 2016 #15
Suspect that Theresa May is banking on Trump as next US president T_i_B Jul 2016 #9
Fox for trade? The guy who let his friend enrich himself by pretending to be an official muriel_volestrangler Jul 2016 #12
Apologies to our American friends..... T_i_B Jul 2016 #13
"In a less shameless world, Liam Fox’s career would have ended in 2011" muriel_volestrangler Jul 2016 #18
And who actively campaigned for Romney while being an MP here? LeftishBrit Jul 2016 #16
Can I please wake up from this nightmare? Please? LeftishBrit Jul 2016 #17
It's like Trump nominating Palin as Secretary of Ejumication NuclearDem Jul 2016 #20
The news almost set Angela Eagle off again (click link for video) MowCowWhoHow III Jul 2016 #21
What was said: muriel_volestrangler Jul 2016 #23
This means Boris Johnson is in charge of MI6, aka the Secret Intelligence Service muriel_volestrangler Jul 2016 #22
And this is Britain's new Foreign Minister? forest444 Jul 2016 #25
Just when you think it can't get worse - it does. suffragette Jul 2016 #32
22 April: Boris Johnson under fire for remark about 'part-Kenyan' Barack Obama muriel_volestrangler Jul 2016 #24
I guess I picked the wrong week to stop drinking n/t malthaussen Jul 2016 #26
'Monstrous' and 'a liar' – Germany and France lead criticism of Boris Johnson Eugene Jul 2016 #30
Intreresting... his paternal Great Grandfather was in the whistler162 Jul 2016 #31

joshcryer

(62,265 posts)
2. So he's going to secure the new import and export treaties.
Wed Jul 13, 2016, 03:19 PM
Jul 2016

Makes sense. Put the man who made Brexit happen in place of acquisition of new trade deals.

MowCowWhoHow III

(2,103 posts)
4. As an appointment this is Troll Level : Jedi
Wed Jul 13, 2016, 03:21 PM
Jul 2016
Boris Johnson wins 'most offensive Erdoğan poem' competition

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 London’s limerick, published by the Spectator as a rebuff to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s efforts to prosecute a German comedian’s offensive poem, also calls the president a “wankerer”.

Johnson, a former editor of the magazine, won the Spectator’s “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

(101,154 posts)
10. Holy fuck, this is the biggest disaster Brexit has produced yet
Wed Jul 13, 2016, 03:47 PM
Jul 2016

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)
28. This foolisness is a distraction from the fact that Erdogan
Wed Jul 13, 2016, 09:28 PM
Jul 2016

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

(14,734 posts)
33. And now Boris has to deal with the Turkish coup
Fri Jul 15, 2016, 09:37 PM
Jul 2016

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)
5. Ouch!
Wed Jul 13, 2016, 03:22 PM
Jul 2016

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.

24601

(3,940 posts)
8. I really doubt that they are. My experience from living in the UK is that the Royal family supports
Wed Jul 13, 2016, 03:47 PM
Jul 2016

the elected government. Even the Queen's annual Christmas speech is written by the government.

 

Wellstone ruled

(34,661 posts)
19. Agree to some extent.
Wed Jul 13, 2016, 04:15 PM
Jul 2016

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)
6. I was shocked to see him debating Mary Beard last year & show a decent knowledge of classics
Wed Jul 13, 2016, 03:30 PM
Jul 2016

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)
11. Well, he got a good classic education throughout.
Wed Jul 13, 2016, 03:48 PM
Jul 2016

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.

T_i_B

(14,734 posts)
14. Competent?
Wed Jul 13, 2016, 03:55 PM
Jul 2016

I suspect that if Boris Johnson was actually competent Michael Gove would not have stabbed him in the back during the Tory leadership contest.

T_i_B

(14,734 posts)
9. Suspect that Theresa May is banking on Trump as next US president
Wed Jul 13, 2016, 03:47 PM
Jul 2016

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

(101,154 posts)
12. Fox for trade? The guy who let his friend enrich himself by pretending to be an official
Wed Jul 13, 2016, 03:50 PM
Jul 2016

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

(14,734 posts)
13. Apologies to our American friends.....
Wed Jul 13, 2016, 03:54 PM
Jul 2016

...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

(101,154 posts)
18. "In a less shameless world, Liam Fox’s career would have ended in 2011"
Wed Jul 13, 2016, 04:08 PM
Jul 2016

Explanation of Fox's past, for DUers in general. 'Fox guarding the henhouse' is the obvious metaphor:

Or to give him his full title, the disgraced former defence secretary, Dr Liam Fox.

Let’s 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 Fox’s 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. Fox’s 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

Liam Fox's Atlantic Bridge linked top Tories and Tea Party activists

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

(41,192 posts)
17. Can I please wake up from this nightmare? Please?
Wed Jul 13, 2016, 04:05 PM
Jul 2016

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!

MowCowWhoHow III

(2,103 posts)
21. The news almost set Angela Eagle off again (click link for video)
Wed Jul 13, 2016, 05:28 PM
Jul 2016
This is how @angelaeagle reacted the moment she found out Boris Johnson was the new foreign secretary #reshuffle
https://twitter.com/PA/status/753335341306621952

muriel_volestrangler

(101,154 posts)
23. What was said:
Wed Jul 13, 2016, 05:41 PM
Jul 2016
With perhaps less than ideal timing, Angela Eagle made a speech to Labour women earlier this evening, where a quip about Boris Johnson suddenly sounded a lot more serious.

The Labour leadership candidate brought up her referendum debate performance, where she told Johnson to stop using the £350m figure. “Oh Boris, isn’t he great for just bouncing around,” she joked.

A cry went up from the audience: “He’s 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 isn’t 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

(101,154 posts)
22. This means Boris Johnson is in charge of MI6, aka the Secret Intelligence Service
Wed Jul 13, 2016, 05:39 PM
Jul 2016

Let that sink in. And then, for dessert:

During the 21-minute conversation, in the summer of 1990, Johnson, then a journalist on the Daily Telegraph, leads Guppy to believe that he would try to obtain Collier's home telephone number so that his home address could be traced.

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

muriel_volestrangler

(101,154 posts)
24. 22 April: Boris Johnson under fire for remark about 'part-Kenyan' Barack Obama
Wed Jul 13, 2016, 06:07 PM
Jul 2016
Johnson, a high-profile figure in the campaign for Britain to leave the EU, wrote about the decision of the Obama administration to remove a bust of Britain’s wartime leader Winston Churchill from the Oval Office.

“Some said it was a snub to Britain. Some said it was a symbol of the part-Kenyan president’s 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.
...
Churchill’s grandson Nicholas Soames, a Conservative MP backing the remain campaign, called Johnson’s article “appalling” and said it was “inconceivable” that the wartime leader would not have welcomed Obama’s 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

Eugene

(61,595 posts)
30. 'Monstrous' and 'a liar' – Germany and France lead criticism of Boris Johnson
Thu Jul 14, 2016, 12:46 PM
Jul 2016

Source: The Guardian

'Monstrous' and 'a liar' – Germany and France lead criticism of Boris Johnson

European politicians react with anger and dismay to Theresa May’s
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 Johnson’s appointment as the UK’s 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 Britain’s 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.

France’s 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 Johnson’s appointment. “I don’t know if it surprised me,” he said. “It’s 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: “I’ve got the impression you’re scared of being faced with the fanciful Boris Johnson?”

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]


Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/14/french-foreign-minister-boris-johnson-is-a-liar-with-his-back-against-the-wall
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