Boris Johnson served as foreign secretary from 2016 until 2018. As a member of Theresa May's government,Johnson was appointed Foreign Secretary on 13 July 2016,shortly after May became prime minister following the resignation of David Cameron. Analysts saw the appointment as a tactic to weaken Johnson politically:the new positions of "Brexit secretary" and international trade secretary left the foreign secretary as a figurehead with few powers.[1][2]
Johnson's appointment ensured he would often be out of the country and unable to organise and mobilise backbenchers against her,while forcing him to take responsibility for problems caused by withdrawing from the EU.[3][4] He held the post until he resigned on 9 July 2018 in protest at the Chequers Plan and May's approach to Brexit,and was succeeded by Jeremy Hunt. Notable events of his tenure included the response to the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal,the imprisonment of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and support for the Saudi Arabian–led intervention in Yemen.
After Theresa May became leader of the Conservative and Prime Minister, Johnson was appointed as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on 13 July 2016.[5] Johnson's appointment was criticised by some journalists and foreign politicians due to his history of controversial statements about other countries and their leaders.[6][7][8] Former Prime Minister of SwedenCarl Bildt said "I wish it was a joke", and French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault stated: "I am not at all worried about Boris Johnson, but... during the campaign he lied a lot to the British people and now it is he who has his back against the wall" as the UK tries to negotiate its future relationship with EU.[9] Conversely, former Prime Minister of AustraliaTony Abbott welcomed the appointment and called him "a friend of Australia".[8] A senior official in the US government suggested that Johnson's appointment would push the US further towards ties with Germany at the expense of the Special Relationship with the UK.[10]
Several analysts described the appointment as a possible tactic by May to weaken Johnson politically: the new positions of "Brexit Secretary" and International Trade Secretary leave the Foreign Secretary as a figurehead with few powers,[5][11] and the appointment would ensure that Johnson would often be out of the country and unable to organise a rebel coalition, while also forcing him to take responsibility for any problems caused by withdrawing from the EU.[12][13]
In August 2016, May called on "feuding ministers" Johnson and Liam Fox to 'stop playing games' after Fox wrote to Johnson saying that British trade could not flourish whilst future policy responsibility remained in Johnson's department.[14] His recorded message supporting Change Britain was perceived by The Guardian as putting pressure on May to speed up the exit process though the newspaper also recorded the anger of former health minister Anna Soubry at the absence of the central "£350m-a-week bonanza for the NHS" pledge -a pledge she had previously described as a lie.[15] In an article critical of Leave campaign figures, which noted his video and his lack of support for May, The Washington Post called him "bombastic".[16]
Johnson supported the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen and refused to block UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia,[17] saying there is no clear evidence of breaches of international humanitarian law by Saudi Arabia in the war in Yemen.[18] In September 2016, he was accused of blocking the UN inquiry into Saudi war crimes in Yemen.[19]
Johnson's first visit to Turkey as Foreign Secretary was somewhat tense due to his having won Douglas Murray's poetry competition about the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, four months earlier.[20] When questioned by a journalist whether he would apologise for the poem, which was published by The Spectator, Johnson dismissed the matter as "trivia".[21] Johnson pledged to help Turkey join the European Union in "any way possible" and expressed Britain’s continued support for the elected Turkish Government.[22]
Johnson and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Washington, D.C., 2017
Upon meeting with Australian Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop in late September 2016, Johnson reiterated his support for negotiating increased visa access between the United Kingdom and Australia, declaring it "odd" that Australians struggled harder to settle in Britain than European nations such as Slovakia.[23] In January 2017, the former government minister Lord Wallace of Saltaire said that Johnson's work on Brexit had left civil servants "in despair" and that he was "alienating other EU foreign ministers". The Foreign Office defended Johnson.[24]
In December 2016, at the Med 2 conference in Rome, Johnson said: "There are politicians who are twisting and abusing religion and different strains of the same religion in order to further their own political objectives. That's one of the biggest political problems in the whole region... That's why you've got the Saudis, Iran, everybody, moving in and puppeteering and playing proxy wars".[25] These comments were interpreted as a diplomatic gaffe in Britain as Saudi Arabia is an ally of Britain and the biggest buyer of British arms.[25][26][27] British prime minister Theresa May said that the foreign minister's comments did not represent the government's view.[28]
Following the 2017 general election, Johnson denied media reports that he intended to challenge Theresa May for leadership of the Conservative Party.[29] He further denied this media speculation on 16 September 2017 as well, insisting on his Twitter page that he was "all behind Theresa for a glorious Brexit."[30]
In August 2017, Rachel Sylvester reported in The Times that Johnson was ineffective and incoherent on major issues like North Korea and Qatar whilst on Brexit, he appeared to have no idea of what was required. His rhetoric seemed to suggest that the UK could dictate the terms "as if it was some kind of public school game rather than a negotiation on which the future of the nation depends." Sylvester believed that both European ministers and White House officials regard him as a joke.[31] This follows a Today programme interview in June on the Queens speech where, asked about the Government's answer to the "burning injustices," highlighted by Theresa May when she became prime minister, he showed a lack of understanding of the issues sufficiently serious to require prompting by Eddie Mair.[32]
In an op-ed published in The Daily Telegraph in September 2017, Johnson reiterated that the UK would regain control of £350m a week after Brexit saying it would be fine thing if much of the money went on the NHS.[33] He was subsequently criticised by Cabinet colleagues for reviving the assertion, and was accused of "clear misuse of official statistics" by the Chair of the UK Statistics Authority, Sir David Norgrove.[34][35] The authority rejected the suggestion that it was quibbling over newspaper headlines and not Johnson's actual words.[35] A few days later, on 19 September, the former Chancellor Kenneth Clarke said that Johnson would have been sacked if British politics were in a more straightforward period.[36] Immediately ahead of the party conference, noting a second Johnson speech setting out terms for Brexit even before determination by the Cabinet, Ruth Davidson called for "serious people" to take over his role, criticised his overoptimism and predicted that Britain would “look very much like it looks now” after the transitional period.[37]
On 27 February 2018 in a leaked letter to Theresa May, Johnson suggested that Northern Ireland may have to accept border controls after Brexit and that it would not seriously affect trade, having initially said a hard border would be unthinkable. 28 February 2018 he turned again stating he would publish his 18-page letter in full online as he recommitted to ruling out a hard border after Britain left the EU.[38]
Johnson caused controversy on a number of occasions. Whilst visiting a temple in Myanmar, formerly Burma, the British ambassador prevented him from reciting lines from Rudyard Kipling's poem "The Road to Mandalay," stopping him a verse before a line which refers to the Bhudda as a Bloomin' idol made o' mud[39] The ambassador described the colonial era poem as "not appropriate".[40][41] While speaking at the 2017 Conservative Party Conference, Johnson caused upset by remarking that the Libyan city Sirte, which had been the site of sustained conflict between the so-called Islamic State and the Libyan Government of National Accord, could be the new Dubai, adding, "all they have to do is clear the dead bodies away".[42] Following his remarks several Tory MPs called for his sacking.[43] According to The Economist, as Foreign Secretary Johnson “is ridiculed abroad and disliked in the Foreign Office.”[44]
Writing in the New Statesman, Martin Fletcher suggested that Johnson is harming British interests abroad. Fletcher wrote that a senior European diplomat based in London said that Johnson was "not taken seriously as a foreign policy actor" and was damaging British interests. He suggested that three-fifths of the 27 EU ambassadors in London quite like Johnson but consider him ill-suited to the job, while the remaining two-fifths "positively dislike him". My interlocutors are, of course, experts in their field and fully paid-up members of the metropolitan elite. (...) I, too, am dismayed by the harm that Johnson is doing to my country and appalled by the possibility of him becoming prime minister."[45]
On 1 November 2017, Johnson told the Foreign Affairs Select Committee that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British citizen serving a 5 year prison sentence in Iran after being arrested on holiday on suspicion of training BBC Persian employees, had been "simply teaching people journalism". Three days later, the High Council for Human Rights in Iran doubled Zaghari-Ratcliffe's sentence, using Johnson's words as evidence against her. Her family, her employer (the Thomson Reuters Foundation), and fellow politicians including Zaghari-Ratcliffe's MP Tulip Siddiq, Shadow Foreign SecretaryEmily Thornberry and former Conservative Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind all called on Johnson to retract his words. Johnson insisted that he had been misquoted, and that nothing he had said had justified Zaghari-Ratcliffe's sentence.[47][48]
In December 2017, Johnson told The Sunday Times newspaper, "I was reading Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian war. It was obvious to me that Athens and its democracy, its openness, its culture and civilisation was the analogue of the United States and the West. Russia for me was closed, nasty, militaristic and antidemocratic – like Sparta."[49]
In response to the Turkish invasion of northern Syria aimed at ousting US-backed Syrian Kurds from the enclave of Afrin, Johnson said: "Watching developments in Afrin closely. Turkey is right to want to keep its borders secure."[50]
Johnson with NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg and his US and Turkish counterparts Pompeo and Çavuşoğlu, Brussels, April 2018
On 20 March 2018, Johnson said in an interview with Deutsche Welle that scientists from the Porton Down laboratory were “absolutely categorical” about the Russian origin of the substance used. "I mean, I asked the guy myself," Johnson said. "I said: 'Are you sure?' And he said: 'There's no doubt.' So we have very little alternative but to take the action that we have taken."[53] On 3 April 2018, Gary Aitkenhead, the chief executive of the Government's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) at Porton Down responsible for testing the substance involved in the case, said that they had been unable to verify the "precise source" of the Novichok nerve agent.[54] Labour MP Chris Williamson tweeted that Johnson had "just lied to justify our country's foreign policy."[55]
In March 2018, Johnson was reprimanded by Commons Speaker John Bercow for using what he called sexist language. Bercow intervened after Johnson referred to the shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry as Lady Nugee. Mrs Thornberry is married to High Court judge Sir Christopher Nugee – but has chosen to go by her maiden name. Bercow said it was "inappropriate and sexist" to refer to her as Lady Nugee. Johnson subsequently apologised for his "inadvertent sexism".[56]
In May 2018, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan arrived in the United Kingdom for a three-day state visit. Erdoğan declared that the United Kingdom is "an ally and a strategic partner, but also a real friend."[61] Liberal Democrat leader Vincent Cable denounced the visit, saying that "By permitting a state visit and audience with the Queen, May and Boris Johnson are essentially rolling out the red carpet for a man with a disregard for human rights, who is responsible for alarming oppression and violence."[62]
In June 2018, Johnson praised the North Korea–United States summit, tweeting "Welcome the news that President Trump and Kim Jong Un have held constructive talks in Singapore. The DPRK’s commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is an important first step towards a stable and prosperous future."[63]
In June 2018, while attending an event for EU diplomats in London, Johnson was reported to have been asked about corporate concerns over a so-called hard Brexit. In response to the question, Johnson was reported to have said "Fuck business".[64][65][66][67]
This is a list of international visits undertaken by Johnson while serving as the Foreign Secretary. The list includes both private travel and official visits. The list includes only foreign travel which the Foreign Secretary made during his tenure in the position.
Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead, is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretary from 2010 to 2016. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidenhead from 1997 to 2024, and has been a member of the House of Lords since August 2024. May was the second female British prime minister, after Margaret Thatcher, and the first woman to have held two of the Great Offices of State. Ideologically, May is a one-nation conservative.
Philip Hammond, Baron Hammond of Runnymede is a British politician and life peer who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2016 to 2019 and Foreign Secretary from 2014 to 2016, having previously served as Defence Secretary from 2011 to 2014 and Transport Secretary from 2010 to 2011. A member of the Conservative Party, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Runnymede and Weybridge from 1997 to 2019.
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He was previously Foreign Secretary from 2016 to 2018 and Mayor of London from 2008 to 2016. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Henley from 2001 to 2008 and for Uxbridge and South Ruislip from 2015 to 2023.
Dominic Rennie Raab is a British former politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor from September 2021 to September 2022 and again from October 2022 to April 2023. He previously served as First Secretary of State and Foreign Secretary from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Conservative Party, Raab was Member of Parliament (MP) for Esher and Walton from 2010 to 2024.
Brexit was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union.
Theresa May's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom began on 13 July 2016 when she accepted an invitation of Queen Elizabeth II to form a government, succeeding David Cameron, and ended on 24 July 2019 upon her resignation. May's premiership was dominated by Brexit, terrorist attacks in Westminster, the Manchester Arena and London Bridge, the Grenfell Tower fire, and the Salisbury poisonings. As prime minister, May also served simultaneously as First Lord of the Treasury, and as Minister for the Civil Service. She also served as Leader of the Conservative Party.
The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union or, informally, Brexit Secretary, was a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the business of the Department for Exiting the European Union, as well as for the UK's withdrawal from the European Union (EU), informally referred to as "Brexit". The secretary of state oversaw Brexit negotiations following a 2016 referendum, in which a majority of those who voted were in favour of exiting the EU. The officeholder was a member of the Cabinet.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is an Iranian-British dual citizen who was detained in Iran from 3 April 2016 to 16 March 2022 as part of a long-running dispute between Britain and Iran. In early September 2016, she was sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty of plotting to topple the Iranian government. While in prison, she went on at least three hunger strikes trying to persuade Iranian authorities to provide medical treatment for her health problems. She was temporarily released on 17 March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran, but subject to electronic monitoring.
Between 2017 and 2019, representatives of the United Kingdom and the European Union negotiated the terms of Brexit, the UK's planned withdrawal from membership of the EU. These negotiations arose following the decision of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to invoke Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, which in turn followed the UK's EU membership referendum on 23 June 2016 in which 52% of votes were in favour of leaving.
The term "Brexit divorce bill" refers to payment due to the European Union (EU) from the United Kingdom (UK) when it left the EU to settle the UK's share of the financing of all the obligations undertaken while it was a member of the EU. In the Withdrawal Agreement, it is officially referred to as the "financial settlement".
The second May ministry was formed on 11 June 2017 after Theresa May returned to office following the June 2017 snap general election. The election resulted in a hung parliament with the Conservative Party losing its governing majority in the House of Commons. On 9 June 2017, May announced her intention to form a Conservative minority government, reliant on the confidence and supply of the Democratic Unionist Party; a finalised agreement between the two parties was signed and published on 26 June 2017.
The 2019 Conservative Party leadership election was triggered when Theresa May announced on 24 May 2019 that she would resign as leader of the Conservative Party on 7 June and as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom once a successor had been elected. Nominations opened on 10 June; 10 candidates were nominated. The first ballot of members of Parliament (MPs) took place on 13 June, with exhaustive ballots of MPs also taking place on 18, 19 and 20 June, reducing the candidates to two. The general membership of the party elected the leader by postal ballot; the result was announced on 23 July, with Boris Johnson being elected with almost twice as many votes as his opponent Jeremy Hunt.
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The Chequers plan, officially known as The future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union , was a UK Government white paper concerning Brexit, published on 12July 2018 by the prime minister, Theresa May. The paper was based on a three-page cabinet agreement from 6July 2018 and laid out the type of future relationship between the UK and the European Union (EU) that the UK sought to achieve in the Brexit negotiations. At the time it was anticipated that the United Kingdom would leave the European Union on 29 March 2019.
The Irish backstop was a proposed protocol to a draft Brexit withdrawal agreement that never came into force. It was developed by the May government and the European Commission in December 2017 and finalised in November 2018, and aimed to prevent an evident border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland after Brexit.
Brexit was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020. As of 2020, the UK is the only member state to have left the EU. Britain entered the predecessor to the EU, the European Communities (EC), on 1 January 1973. Following this, Eurosceptic groups grew in popularity in the UK, opposing aspects of both the EC and the EU. As Euroscepticism increased during the early 2010s, Prime Minister David Cameron delivered a speech in January 2013 at Bloomberg London, in which he called for reform of the EU and promised an in–out referendum on the UK's membership if the Conservative Party won a majority at the 2015 general election. The Conservatives won 330 seats at the election, giving Cameron a majority of 12, and a bill to hold a referendum was introduced to Parliament that month.
Boris Johnson has declared his position on many political issues through his public comments. Johnson's political positions have changed throughout his political career. His policies, views and voting record have been the subject of commentary during Johnson's tenure in various positions, including as Mayor of London from 2008 to 2016 and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2019 to 2022.
Following the referendum in the United Kingdom on its membership of the European Union on 23 June 2016, polling companies continued to use standard questions in order to gauge public opinion on the country's relationship with the EU. Opinion polling overall showed an initial fall in support for Brexit from the referendum to late 2016, when responses were split evenly between support and opposition. Support rose again to a plurality, which held until the 2017 general election. Since then, opinion polls tended to show a plurality of support for remaining in the EU or for the view that Brexit was a mistake, with the estimated margin increasing until a small decrease in 2019. This seems to be largely due to a preference for remaining in the EU among those who did not vote in 2016's referendum. Other reasons suggested include slightly more Leave voters than Remain voters changing how they would vote and the deaths of older voters, most of whom voted to leave the EU.
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