Outrage as Boris Johnson steps onto world stage

And another new position, Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, has been filled by leave campaigner David Davis, who will manage intricate negotiations as the United Kingdom leaves the EU.

Boris Johnson has earned a reputation as Britain’s most flamboyant politician, a man whose impressive vocabulary is matched only by his ability to offend at every turn.

He shrugged off criticism from his European peers, including French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, who accused him of having “lied a lot” during the Brexit campaign.

And those are Britain’s allies talking.

His remarks that Barack Obama is “the part-Kenyan President” with an “ancestral dislike of the British Empire” caused dismay in Washington, as did his description of Hillary Clinton as a “a sadistic nurse in a mental hospital”. He also published an obscene poem about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Boris Johnson’s first speech as British Foreign Secretary has been meet with boos at a Bastille Day Celebration in the French Embassy in London this morning.

France and Germany’s foreign ministers reacted with mistrust Thursday to the news that Boris Johnson, prominent advocate for Britain to leave the European Union, had been made foreign secretary.

“I think now they will want to see that this big figure who’s full of showmanship can adapt very rapidly to the much more disciplined style needed of a Foreign Secretary”.

Ayrault added that Johnson has “his back against the wall to defend his country, but also with his back against the wall the relationship with Europe should be clear”.

“The Prime Minister explained that we would need some time to prepare for these negotiations and spoke of her hope that these could be conducted in a constructive and positive spirit”, a Downing Street spokesperson said today.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday congratulated May’s appointment in a telegram in which he expressed his wish to “maintain a constructive dialogue”.

Some of the potential advantages of giving Johnson a top role in her new cabinet are hard to refute. “And I think we now have the opportunity to achieve that”, Johnson said. – Tim Farron, leader of Britain’s opposition Liberal Democrats.

As a newspaper columnist, Johnson used a derogatory term for black children when describing people in the Commonwealth and characterized people from Papua New Guinea as cannibals. While in Parliament, he offended an entire British city when he complained that people from Liverpool were wallowing in “victim status” after a Liverpudlian was taken hostage and slain in Iraq.

And she certainly didn’t hold back with her response.

Even the Kremlin, not averse to issuing icy threats to foreign powers, said Mr Johnson must watch his language.

Britain narrowly voted to exit the EU. Because the United States taxes its citizens on earnings across the world, Johnson owed USA taxes on the 2009 sale of his London home, a bill he paid only past year, according to British media. May says she will implement the break from the European Union despite being on the “Remain” side during the campaign.

Speaking on BBC Radio, he said he thought Johnson’s role would be to reach out to other parts of the world as well as Europe, adding that he thought recent “strong messages” by Chancellor Merkel had not been fully understood by the British government.

Belgium’s former prime minister, Guy Verhofstadt, tweeted that “British humor has no borders”.