May Appoints Johnson As Foreign Secretary To Almost Universal Derision

Theresa May has unveiled her cabinet selections and the biggest surprise (or is it shock) is that Boris Johnson will be Foreign Secretary.  You really have to wonder what May’s thinking is with this choice. Johnson is not the guy you associate with quiet, understated diplomacy while driving hard bargains behind closed doors. Rather he is known for off-the-cuff and often inappropriate remarks and many European leaders apparently despise him. So you really have to wonder what May was thinking. As Foreign Secretary, Johnson will be required to do lots of traveling, keeping away from home and perhaps plotting against her. She may also be thinking that it won’t take long for Boris to have a major faux-pas and then she could sack him. Or with David Davis handling the Brexit negotiations and Liam Fox handling trade, Johnson’s job might actually become more like an American Vice President, traveling the globe to go the dignitaries’ funerals and visiting remote countries with little strategic importance. Or perhaps he will be the bad cop to David Davis’ good cop in the Brexit negotiations, although that seems less likely. Whatever her rationale for the appointment was, it has been met with pretty much universal derision which is probably not the first impression May would like to make. And I’m sure it makes Britain’s allies even more uncomfortable and uneasy about Britain’s place in the world going forward.