Boris Johnson seen as an international joke, by Rachel Sylvester.
Boris Johnson is becoming the Where’s Wally? of international diplomacy. All over the world the geopolitical tectonic plates are shifting yet at this time of huge global significance the foreign secretary is all but invisible on the international stage. …
As the US enters an extraordinary culture war under Donald Trump, Mr Johnson remains morally ambiguous, flip-flopping between dismissing criticisms of the president as a “whinge-o-rama” and claiming he got it “totally wrong” in his response to the recent racial violence in Charlottesville. He made a serious strategic error in aligning himself so quickly with a divisive populist across the Atlantic who no longer even has the support of his own Republican Party. …
That’s clear code that the journalist is anti-Trump.
Some MPs believe Mr Johnson is pursuing a deliberate strategy of what Henry Kissinger liked to call “constructive ambiguity” — keeping his options open for the sake of personal ambition — but the truth is that he is rapidly becoming a national embarrassment. I’ve just spent a fortnight in America and was shocked by the number of tech entrepreneurs, hedge fund managers and political strategists I met who asked: “Why has your prime minister appointed a fool as foreign secretary?” According to diplomatic sources, even officials at the Trump White House “don’t want to go anywhere near Boris because they think he’s a joke”. If that seems ironic, one minister says: “It’s worse in Europe. There is not a single foreign minister there who takes him seriously. They think he’s a clown who can never resist a gag.” …
Senior Conservatives blame “vanity” for his inability to remain on message or keep a secret.
“The French think Boris is totally unreliable, the Germans think he’s a liar and the Italians think he’s dangerous,” says one well-travelled Tory MP. …
The civil servants in the Foreign Office are horrified by their boss’s lack of discipline and have taken to slipping in to see his deputy Sir Alan Duncan, the Europe minister, when they need a decision. At the intelligence agencies, there is a nervousness about giving sensitive material to a politician who treats every public outing like an after-dinner speech. …
“It’s all about managing Boris, not respecting him,” says one Whitehall source. “He’s got no concentration span so it’s difficult to have a detailed discussion with him. The whole thing is completely ramshackle for someone who is supposed to be so clever. He doesn’t know what he thinks so he flies by the seat of his pants.”
Sounds like it’s all rumors and spin — maybe the establishment is out to get Boris because he is sympathetic to Trump?
“All about managing, not respecting” Isn’t that what the new White House staff are doing with Trump? Is this the bureaucrat’s or the swamp’s way of dealing with naughty challengers whom the people accidentally elect?
hat-tip Stephen Neil
