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French foreign minister: Boris Johnson is a liar with his back against the wall 'Monstrous' and 'a liar' – Germany and France lead criticism of Boris Johnson
(about 3 hours later)
Britain’s new foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, is a liar with his back against the wall, his French counterpart has said. 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.
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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?”
Ayrault replied: “No, I’ve got no worries at all about Boris Johnson. But you know very well what his style and method are. During the campaign, you know he told a lot of lies to the British people and now it is him who has his back against the wall. He is up against it to defend his country and also so that the relationship with Europe is clear.”
Ayrault said Brexit must now happen in the best conditions possible “and not to the detriment of the European project”. He added: “We cannot let this ambiguous, blurred situation drag on.”
In Berlin, there was dismay. Germany’s foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, echoed the French critique of Johnson, suggesting that his conduct in the run-up to the EU referendum was deceitful and reckless. Speaking in Greifswald, Steinmeier called the new foreign secretary’s behaviour “ungeheuerlich” - monstrous or outrageous.
“People [in the UK] are experiencing a rude awakening after irresponsible politicians first lured the country into Brexit and then, once the decision was made, decided to bolt from responsibility, and instead go off and play cricket,” Steinmeier said. He was referencing Johnson’s decision the day after the vote to play cricket at the Althorp estate, the stately home of Earl Spencer.
Steinmeier added: “To be honest, I find this outrageous. It’s not just bitter for Great Britain. It’s also bitter for the EU.”
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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”. In a blogpost European commission vice-president Frans Timmermans said he was a passionate Anglophile. But he said the “hatred and bigotry” unleashed by the Leave campaign “took me completely by surprise” and added that he was stunned Johnson brought the Nazis into the debate. In May Johnson claimed the EU’s plans were similar to Hitler’s.
The Europe 1 radio interviewer told Ayrault: “I’ve got the impression you’re scared of being faced with the fanciful Boris Johnson,” to which the French foreign minister replied: “No, I’ve got no worries at all about Boris Johnson. But you know very well what his style and method are. During the campaign, you know he told a lot of lies to the British people and now it is him who has his back against the wall. He is up against it to defend his country and also so that the relationship with Europe is clear.” Timmermans also cited Johnson’s claim the previous month that President Obama held a grudge against Britain because of his “half-Kenyan ancestry”.
Ayrault said Britain’s exit from the European Union must now happen in the best conditions possible “and not to the detriment of the European project”. He added: “We cannot let this ambiguous, blurred situation drag on …” “Would it not have been enough to say that you disagree with the American president’s point of view? Why discredit not just his motives, but even his persona, with borderline racist remarks?” Timmersmans wrote.
His reaction reflected a negative response to Johnson’s appointment from across Europe. In Germany, Simone Peter, the co-leader of the Green party, likened it to “trusting the cat to keep the cream”. Johnson was “properly, properly hated”, said Anne Gellinek, the Brussels correspondent of public broadcaster ZDF. He went on: “The problem with hatred however is that, once used casually as an instrument in political discourse, it can prove very effective in reproducing itself. Of course this loss of control doesn’t happen when one is simply debating big topics with the chaps at the Oxford Union... But in the real world of a referendum on the future of your country the kind of arguments used have consequences.”
Martin Schulz, the European parliament chief, said Theresa May’s new cabinet was based on solving internal splits in the Conservatives rather than promoting the national interest, continuing a “dangerously vicious cycle” that will hurt Britain and Europe. Elsewhere in Germany the reaction was negative. Simone Peter, the co-leader of the Green party, compared Johnson’s new job to “trusting the cat to keep the cream”. The former London mayor was “properly, properly hated”, said Anne Gellinek, the Brussels correspondent of public broadcaster ZDF.
In Brussels - where Johnson is due to attend his first foreign ministers’ summit on Monday - there was a distinct lack of enthusiasm. Martin Schulz, the European parliament chief, said Theresa May’s new cabinet was based on solving internal Conservative party problems. It continued a “dangerously vicious cycle” that will hurt Britain and Europe, Schulz said.
“It its important to have someone in place who allows for calm and serene negotiations,” added one EU diplomat. “These are not the qualities we have seen from Boris Johnson so far.”
In Paris, Johnson has long been seen as an outrageous “French-basher” and bizarre English eccentric, once summed up by Le Monde as “a Monty Python-style politician who appears to avoid taking things seriously”.In Paris, Johnson has long been seen as an outrageous “French-basher” and bizarre English eccentric, once summed up by Le Monde as “a Monty Python-style politician who appears to avoid taking things seriously”.
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His appointment as foreign secretary was met with a degree of appalled surprise from French media and commentators, many of whom had been shocked by what was seen as the intellectual dishonesty of some of Johnson’s comments during the referendum campaign, namely when he likened the EU to a project by Adolf Hitler. His appointment was met with a degree of appalled surprise from French media and commentators, many of whom had been shocked by what was seen as the intellectual dishonesty of some of Johnson’s comments during the referendum campaign, namely when he likened the EU to a project by Adolf Hitler.
Johnson speaks fluent French with an accent, which he calls his own “barbarian form of French” learnt when he was a Brussels correspondent. He has often been to France to promote his books on Churchill or London, which have been translated into French and sold well. He easily holds court on French radio in French, and as London mayor conducted meetings with Paris politicians in French.Johnson speaks fluent French with an accent, which he calls his own “barbarian form of French” learnt when he was a Brussels correspondent. He has often been to France to promote his books on Churchill or London, which have been translated into French and sold well. He easily holds court on French radio in French, and as London mayor conducted meetings with Paris politicians in French.
But he is best known for what has been seen as his relentless “French bashing” and endless quest for hammy punchlines at the expense of France.But he is best known for what has been seen as his relentless “French bashing” and endless quest for hammy punchlines at the expense of France.
France bristled when, at the Conservative party conference in 2012, he said he welcomed “talented French people” who wanted to flee François Hollande’s tax rises, adding that France had been “captured by sans culottes” running a tyranny of the like not seen since the French revolution. Meanwhile the French president François Hollande repeated his call for Theresa May to begin Britain’s exit from the European Union as fast as possible on Thursday.
“Not since 1789 has there been such a tyranny and terror in France,” he thundered, later acknowledging that the French “are very sensitive about their revolution”. “The sooner Mrs May actions Britain’s exit from the EU, the better the future relationship between the EU and the UK will be,” he said in his traditional Bastille Day TV appearance.
Related: Britain's new foreign secretary Boris Johnson: a career of insults and gaffes Hollande added that he had told May by phone, “with all the necessary courtesy” that Britain must act fast to end the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, saying he didn’t want it to have consequences for the fragile French economy.
France’s equivalent of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme introduced him three years ago as a man who “never missed an opportunity to have a go at France and the French”.
During the EU referendum campaign, he quipped that France would easily do a favourable trade deal with the UK after Brexit because “we export french knickers to France”.
He added: “We must be pretty irritating for some of these french knicker manufacturers when they stroll down the Champs Élysées to see British french knickers on sale in their shops. But are they going to put tariffs, after we leave the EU, on our french knickers, when we buy so much of their cheese and champagne? Of course they’re not.”
Le Monde warned after his appointment: “His talent for theatrics is well known, but it remains to be seen how much talent he has in international diplomacy.”
Jean Quatremer, Brussels correspondent for the French daily Libération, referred to Johnson’s reputation as a liar by tweeting that his appointment “shows what Britain’s word is worth”.
.@BorisJohnson, ministre des affaires étrangères, ça montre ce que vaut désormais la parole britannique... #Brexit
One Socialist in Paris tweeted that with Johnson’s appointment the joke was not over.
Boris Johnson, Ministre des Affaires Étrangères. Cette blague ne s'arrête donc jamais ?
Pascal Boniface, the director of Paris’s Institute for International and Strategic Affairs, said he saw the appointment as an internal move to keep a balance on the Eurosceptic side of the cabinet.
But he said that, viewed from abroad and given Johnson’s “very feeble” reputation, the appointment could be seen at an international level “as a provocation”. Boniface said it all depended on whether Johnson stayed true to his deliberately provocative tone or whether he changed: “If he stays himself there will be a problem between the UK and other countries. People can accept that the UK leaves the EU but they can’t accept gratuitous insults levelled against other countries.”