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| Boris Johnson launches charm offensive at French embassy | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| An emollient Boris Johnson, condemned as a liar by the French foreign minister, has launched a hurried charm offensive in his first full day as foreign secretary – going to the French embassy’s Bastille Day celebrations in London to promise that French citizens already in the UK could stay if there was a similar agreement for Britons living in Europe. | |
| Related: The Boris Johnson question: how the UK's foreign secretary is viewed abroad | Related: The Boris Johnson question: how the UK's foreign secretary is viewed abroad |
| Johnson, the single riskiest appointment in Theresa May’s reshuffle, admitted that the Brexit vote would lead to “a certain amount of plaster coming off the ceiling of the chancelleries of Europe since it was not the result they were expecting and clearly they are making their views known in a free and frank way”. | Johnson, the single riskiest appointment in Theresa May’s reshuffle, admitted that the Brexit vote would lead to “a certain amount of plaster coming off the ceiling of the chancelleries of Europe since it was not the result they were expecting and clearly they are making their views known in a free and frank way”. |
| But he claimed he had already received a charming private letter from his French counterpart, Jean-Marc Ayrault, looking forward to deep Anglo-French co-operation. | But he claimed he had already received a charming private letter from his French counterpart, Jean-Marc Ayrault, looking forward to deep Anglo-French co-operation. |
| In public, however, Ayrault said Johnson had told a lot of lies during the referendum campaign, while the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, accused Johnson of outrageous irresponsibility by “luring the country into Brexit” and then going off to play cricket. | In public, however, Ayrault said Johnson had told a lot of lies during the referendum campaign, while the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, accused Johnson of outrageous irresponsibility by “luring the country into Brexit” and then going off to play cricket. |
| In a speech that was greeted by some boos, Johnson told the Bastille Day reception that the UK vote to reject the EU was like the sans-culottes uprising against the monarchy in the French Revolution. He said: “The sans-culottes popular uprising was against a stifling bureaucratic ancient regime whose democratic credentials had become very far from obvious.” He continued: “We can all agree vox populi is vox Dei, in other words the people then, as now, must be respected.” | |
| He also gave a commitment that French people living in the UK would be allowed to remain as long as the rights of British people in Europe were respected in a reciprocal way. | |
| #BastilleDay @BorisJohnson's speech was booed by the #French community #BoJo #Johnson. pic.twitter.com/PtLGwwVmhw | |
| The speech at the French ambassador’s residence in London also received some applause. In it, he also insisted the economic, political, psychological and cultural union between France and the UK would continue but on an inter-governmental level. | |
| He said: “We are not leaving Europe. It would be geographically, physically, culturally, emotionally and historically impossible for the UK to leave Europe. That is not our destiny. That is not our future.“The British people had asked for a new relationship with the EU andthat is what the UK will seek. The UK will intensify its relationship with its friends across the channel at an inter-governmental level. The UK will now forge a new global identity”. | |
| He said he “was amazed to wake up as foreign secretary and readingsome of the commentary in the newspapers this morning I was aware thiswas not an altogether unique opinion”. | |
| Earlier on Thursday, Johnson also addressed nearly 800 Foreign Office staff with a speech aimed at boosting morale, arguing that the UK’s world role was now more important than ever. | |
| Senior mandarins remain dumbfounded by his appointment, pointing to his long record of undiplomatic remarks about vital UK allies ranging from Turkey to the US and Europe. | Senior mandarins remain dumbfounded by his appointment, pointing to his long record of undiplomatic remarks about vital UK allies ranging from Turkey to the US and Europe. |
| In the coming Brexit talks, the UK is not in an obviously strong bargaining position, and European leaders deeply resent the way in which Johnson and his allies not just won the referendum, but denigrated the whole European project – at one point likening it to the grandiosity of Hitler’s dictatorship. | In the coming Brexit talks, the UK is not in an obviously strong bargaining position, and European leaders deeply resent the way in which Johnson and his allies not just won the referendum, but denigrated the whole European project – at one point likening it to the grandiosity of Hitler’s dictatorship. |
| In a business that is based on trust and mutual respect, Johnson is starting with a handicap that will require all his longstanding charm, and some newly found self-discipline, to overcome. | In a business that is based on trust and mutual respect, Johnson is starting with a handicap that will require all his longstanding charm, and some newly found self-discipline, to overcome. |
| Johnson spoke to the US secretary of state, John Kerry, and the two men agreed that Brexit should occur in an orderly way. Kerry, who is due in London this week to discuss Syria and the Middle East, told Johnson he wanted to see “more Britain abroad, a greater global profile”. | Johnson spoke to the US secretary of state, John Kerry, and the two men agreed that Brexit should occur in an orderly way. Kerry, who is due in London this week to discuss Syria and the Middle East, told Johnson he wanted to see “more Britain abroad, a greater global profile”. |
| It remains unclear what the relationship will be between the Foreign Office and the new Department for Brexit, to be run by David Davis, and the new Department for International Trade, run by Liam Fox. All three men are Brexiters, but have sizable egos that will require strong guidance from the prime minister to ensure a coherent negotiating strategy by the end of the year. | It remains unclear what the relationship will be between the Foreign Office and the new Department for Brexit, to be run by David Davis, and the new Department for International Trade, run by Liam Fox. All three men are Brexiters, but have sizable egos that will require strong guidance from the prime minister to ensure a coherent negotiating strategy by the end of the year. |
| Davis has claimed that Brexit can be accomplished by December 2018 and new trade deals as large as with the EU single market secured within two years. The three men are likely to clash on the degree to which the UK needs access to the EU single market and the price the UK is willing to pay to achieve that. | Davis has claimed that Brexit can be accomplished by December 2018 and new trade deals as large as with the EU single market secured within two years. The three men are likely to clash on the degree to which the UK needs access to the EU single market and the price the UK is willing to pay to achieve that. |
| Insisting the UK had a bright future outside the EU, Johnson said: “There’s a massive difference between leaving the EU and our relations with Europe, which if anything I think are going to be intensified.” | Insisting the UK had a bright future outside the EU, Johnson said: “There’s a massive difference between leaving the EU and our relations with Europe, which if anything I think are going to be intensified.” |
| Johnson has described himself as a child of Europe, a liberal cosmopolitan whose “family is a genetic UN peacekeeping force”. | Johnson has described himself as a child of Europe, a liberal cosmopolitan whose “family is a genetic UN peacekeeping force”. |
| He has claimed it is “offensive, insulting, irrelevant and positively cretinous to be told – sometimes by people who can barely speak a foreign language – that I belong to a group of small-minded xenophobes”. | He has claimed it is “offensive, insulting, irrelevant and positively cretinous to be told – sometimes by people who can barely speak a foreign language – that I belong to a group of small-minded xenophobes”. |
| Sir Peter Ricketts, a former UK ambassador to France, said Europeans would see Johnson “as a warm charismatic person” and as they were a “pretty pragmatic bunch, they will knuckle down to settling those problems”. | Sir Peter Ricketts, a former UK ambassador to France, said Europeans would see Johnson “as a warm charismatic person” and as they were a “pretty pragmatic bunch, they will knuckle down to settling those problems”. |
| The previous foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, was due to hold an informal dinner with his fellow EU ministers on Sunday in Brussels, but it is now not clear if the talks will go ahead. If they do, the ministers are likely to discuss the status of EU migrants in the UK and of UK migrants in the EU. Uncertainty about the future legal status has led to some UK citizens applying for EU passports, fearing they may even be deported. | The previous foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, was due to hold an informal dinner with his fellow EU ministers on Sunday in Brussels, but it is now not clear if the talks will go ahead. If they do, the ministers are likely to discuss the status of EU migrants in the UK and of UK migrants in the EU. Uncertainty about the future legal status has led to some UK citizens applying for EU passports, fearing they may even be deported. |