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Western Disapproval on Assigning Johnson UK’s Foreign Secretary Post | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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New British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. Reuters


London- The new British Prime Minister continued on Thursday to form her new cabinet, whose members were distinctively chosen from the Brexiteers in an attempt to reshape Britain’s role in the world.

Theresa May gave Boris Johnson one of the most powerful roles in government as she appointed him Foreign Secretary on Wednesday night.

May made David Davis, a prominent Leave campaigner, Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union.

Liam Fox, another senior Brexit supporter, was made International Trade Secretary, nearly five years after stepping down as defense secretary during the coalition government.

The two men are “unlikely to tolerate any backsliding on the promise that ‘Brexit means Brexit’,” said Mark Wallace, executive editor of the Tory website Conservative Home.

“There will be ‘Remainers’ at the top of government,” he wrote in a commentary, noting that May’s new Finance Minister Philip Hammond campaigned alongside her to stay in the EU.

“These appointments show that true ‘Leavers’ will be alongside them with specific power over the process of escaping the EU – good news for the 17.4mn voters,” who chose Brexit and want to ensure it “really happens.”

Among all the newly appointed secretaries, Johnson’s post raised reservations in some foreign capitals as European leaders have responded with dismay and fury at the appointment of Johnson as Britain’s Foreign Secretary.

The French foreign minister denounced him as a “liar.”

In an unprecedented attack on an EU colleague, Jean-Marc Ayrault said: “During the campaign he lied a lot to the British people and now it is he who has his back against the wall.”

“I need a partner with whom I can negotiate and who is clear, credible and reliable,” he added.

For its part, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Thursday urging Johnson to improve relations between Moscow and London.

The Kremlin spokesman said: “The importance of his current position will definitely make him adopt a different rhetoric, a more diplomatic one.”

Moreover, a senior official in Ankara said that his country hopes a more positive attitude and stances from the new British Foreign Secretary especially that the latter has won a prize for penning a rude poem about Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, in a poetry competition organized by the British “Spectator” magazine earlier this year.