British New Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson appeared to make the first of his trademark gaffes in his new job on Wednesday – by referring to the ‘crisis in Egypt’ when he was believed to be referring to last week’s attempted coup in Turkey.
In an intense press conference alongside US Secretary of State John Kerry, he was also forced to defend himself against what reporters termed ‘outright lies’ told about US politicians during the Brexit campaign and in his previous role as a journalist.
Attempting to deflect the line of questioning, Johnson replied that there were bigger issues at hand.
‘We have real problems in Yemen, which are currently intractable, and we have a burgeoning crisis in Egypt,’ he said. He repeated the line moments later.
Last night the Foreign Office insisted Johnson had indeed meant to say Egypt.
Johnson was speaking during an often awkward press conference at the Foreign Office with US secretary of state John Kerry.
The Tory cabinet minister was forced to defend himself over previous comments about Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Johnson said there was a ‘rich thesaurus’ of comments he had made in his journalistic career and joked that it would take ‘too long’ to issue an apology for all the things he had written which had been ‘misconstrued’.
He added: ‘We can all spend an awfully long time going over lots of stuff I have written over the last 30 years … all of which, in my view, has been taken out of context, but never mind – but there are some serious issues before us today.’ It was then he referred to Egypt.
He was asked about his reference to Obama’s ‘part-Kenyan’ ancestry during the EU referendum campaign, and his comparison of presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton to a ‘sadistic nurse in a mental hospital’ or Lady Macbeth.
Johnson said: ‘I’m afraid there is such a rich thesaurus now of things that I have said that have been – one way or another, through what alchemy I do not know – somehow misconstrued that it would really take me too long to engage in a full global itinerary of apology to all concerned.
‘Most people who read these things in their proper context can see exactly what was intended and indeed I find that virtually everybody I have met so far in this job understands that very well, particularly on the international scene.’
He said it was ‘far more important’ to focus on the challenges facing the world.
‘We have some very serious issues before us today. We have an unfolding humanitarian crisis in Syria, which is getting worse and worse, we have to come up with some answers there.’
During the meeting, Kerry praised Johnson, having flown to London to ‘reaffirm’ the ‘special and unbreakable’ relationship between the US and the UK despite last month’s Brexit vote.
Stressing the importance of the ties between the two countries, the US Secretary of State insisted the ‘special relationship’ was ‘not just the words of diplomacy’ but a ‘genuine expression of a feeling of friendship’.
He hailed Johnson as a ‘very smart and capable man’ and said he intends to ‘make good things happen together’ as the pair started their own ‘special relationship’.
Kerry also sought to reassure Britain over fears that Donald Trump could put this alliance in jeopardy by saying ‘no shift in administrations’ either side of the pond would undermine it.
Kerry sent a reassuring message to those doubting Johnson’s credibility as Foreign Secretary – following criticism of his appointment from some of his European counterparts.
He said his British counterpart was ‘fully prepared to and ready to jump into’ his new brief as Foreign Secretary.
As they delivered a joint press conference at the Foreign Office in Whitehall, central London, the pair joshed with each other and referred to each other by first names to demonstrate the strength of their personal relationships.
Kerry brushed aside Johnson’s controversial previous remarks, telling the press conference: ‘This man is a very smart and capable man, this is the Boris Johnson I have met and that’s the Boris Johnson that I intend to work with and we intend to make good things happen together.’
But he was interrupted by Johnson, who responded in typically bashful British fashion by telling Kerry to ‘stop there, that’s fine’.
The US Secretary of State drew laughter as he left his podium to nudge Johnson and told him: ‘It’s called diplomacy’.
Explaining his reasons for visiting the UK Kerry said: ‘I’ve returned to London today to reaffirm ourselves the special and unbreakable ties between the United States and the United Kingdom and these are more than words, folk.
‘I don’t want to just say them – they’re not just the words of diplomacy, they really aren’t.
‘This is a genuine expression of a feeling of friendship and it is built up over years and years of commons sacrifice, common endeavor, common interests, common values that have been shared consistently between us.’
And offering reassurance over the prospect of Trump becoming US President, Kerry added: ‘I think that it is clear that no shift in administrations – and I’m speaking for us either – in either of our countries is going to alter or undermine the bonds that we have and the reason for that is very basic – our alliance is rooted in the ties, family, language, culture, commerce,’ he said this afternoon.
Johnson took the opportunity to reiterate that the vote to leave the EU did not mean that Britain would step back from the world stage.
‘I want us to re-shape Britain’s profile as an even greater global nation – a Britain that is more active, more outward-facing, more energetic on the world stage than ever before,’ he said.
Kerry, who earlier held talks with Theresa May in Downing Street, welcomed the Prime Minister’s ‘very pronounced commitment’ to the special relationship.
After the press conference Kerry and Johnson held meetings with their German, Italian and French counterparts – as well as the EU’s foreign affairs chief – to discuss the ongoing civil war in Syria, the refugee crisis, the Nice attacks and the attempted military coup in Turkey.
Turning to the conflict in Syria, Johnson appealed to Vladimir Putin to use his influence with Syrian President Bashar Assad to end the ‘carnage’ which has torn his country apart.
He warned that the ‘dire’ situation on the ground in Syria looked set to spark a new exodus of refugees fleeing the conflict.
‘Russia in particular has a unique ability to persuade the Assad regime to end the carnage and return to the negotiating table,’ he said.
‘We seek those with influence over the Assad regime – including Russia and Iran – to ensure humanitarian access to the besieged areas in line with UN Security Council resolutions.’
Kerry said his private meeting with Johnson had shown him ‘Boris is fully prepared to and ready to jump into this agenda’.
He added: ‘I appreciate the commitments he has made and his readiness to see to it that this steady relationship of ours continues with the same sense of purpose and the same commitment to the values that we share.’
Earlier Kerry met Theresa May for the first time since she was appointed Prime Minister last week.
He pledged to help Britain ‘maximise the economic opportunities’ of Brexit as he flew in to meet Theresa May less than a week after she was appointed Prime Minister.
The US Secretary of State’s comments come less than three months after President Barack Obama warned Britain not to leave the EU because it would be at the ‘back of the queue’ for a trade deal with the US.
But his first meeting with May as PM got off to a bumpy start as he walked straight into the door of 10 Downing Street.
He stopped on the steps of No 10 to pose for pictures but as he turned to enter the Prime Minister’s residence, he hadn’t noticed the door had shut.
Kerry ended up banging his head on the door knocker as he turned to walk through what he thought was an open door.
He is visiting London for brief talks with May, who was appointed Britain’s second female Prime Minister last week and her new Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
After their brief meeting in No 10 Kerry praised May for her ‘calm, thoughtful, reasonable’ approach to dealing with Brexit.
‘The Prime Minister and I had an excellent discussion and I’m very grateful to her for her restatement of the commitment to the very strong transatlantic partnership,’ he told reporters outside.
‘We talked particularly about efforts to try to deal with counter-terrorism, the importance of our co-operation continuing.
‘We also talked about Ukraine and Syria in particular.
‘Most importantly we affirmed the imperative for the United States, Great Britain and the European community to work together to maximise the economic opportunity, minimise the disruption, deal with this in a way that has the wellbeing of the citizens of all of our countries and regions in mind in order to move our economies as fast as possible.’
Kerry added: ‘I think the Prime Minister is very much committed to finding a calm, thoughtful, reasonable way forward that meets those needs.
‘So I was encouraged by it and I look forward to conveying her very best wishes to the American people and President Obama.’
Johnson hopes the meeting will demonstrate that Washington still values the ‘special relationship’ between the two countries after Britain defied its warnings about leaving the EU.
The new Foreign Secretary, who was the public face of the Brexit campaign and angered many in Europe after comparing the EU to Hitler during the referendum, is hosting talks on Syria with his counterparts from Germany, France and Italy, along with Kerry and the EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini.
Johnson is also attending meetings with foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) today to discuss the conflict in Yemen.
Speaking ahead of the meetings, Johnson said: ‘We must be more active, more engaged and more outward-looking, so I am delighted to have this early opportunity to welcome my international counterparts to London for important meetings on the conflicts in Syria and Yemen.
‘I will be making clear my view that the suffering of the Syrian people will not end while Assad remains in power. The international community, including Russia, must be united on this.’
Johnson was urged to use his meeting with Saudi officials to express concern at the country’s intervention in Yemen.
Amnesty’s UK arms programme director Oliver Sprague said: ‘As the new Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson has a chance to show that he intends to bring a fresh approach which puts people before profit in British foreign policy.
‘Mr Johnson should immediately stop the appalling sale of British-made weapons to Saudi Arabia – which are being used to commit atrocities in Yemen, in violation of international law.
‘This is a chance to reflect on the morality of the hard-sell strategy the UK has been pursuing.’
Johnson will travel to Washington DC on Thursday for talks on combating Islamic State.
He and Kerry met during a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels over the weekend to discuss the fight against terrorism following the horrifying attack in Nice last week and the developing events in Turkey after the attempted military coup.
In a boost for Brexit, Kerry echoed Johnson’s comments saying Britain will remain a ‘vital component of Europe’ even after it officially cuts ties with the EU.
But amid tense meetings between EU ministers and Johnson – who had compared the EU with Hitler during the referendum campaign – Kerry insisted the EU was a force for good as he pointed out that America and Europe together had defeated fascism.
During a working breakfast Kerry urged Europe to stop Turkey ‘backsliding’ on democracy in the country after President Erdogan responded to the failed coup by detaining more than 6,000 military figures and judges and promising draconian reforms to crack down on dissent.
Source: Daily Mail
