{"id":368711,"date":"2018-07-09T23:07:04","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T22:07:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/bojos-gaffes-as-foreign-secretary-rt-uk-news\/"},"modified":"2018-07-09T23:07:04","modified_gmt":"2018-07-09T22:07:04","slug":"bojos-gaffes-as-foreign-secretary-rt-uk-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/bojos-gaffes-as-foreign-secretary-rt-uk-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Bojo\u2019s gaffes as Foreign Secretary \u2014 RT UK News"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As Boris Johnson resigns as the British foreign secretary, sliding the Tory government into chaos and, in doing so, endangering the prospect of a successful conclusion to Brexit negotiations, RT delves into his litany of gaffes.<\/p>\n

\n

Johnson\u2019s departure from Theresa May\u2019s cabinet quickly follows that of fellow Euroskeptics David Davis as Brexit Secretary and his minister Steve Baker – all three jumping ship in a 24-hour period as a result of the PM\u2019s proposals for a \u2018sot Brexit,\u2019 with her plan to “maintain a common rulebook for all goods<\/em>.” \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

Read more<\/p>\n


\n \"\"\/
\n <\/a>\n<\/div>\n

The former London mayor is said to have been less than impressed with the PM\u2019s plans, labelling them an \u201cabsolute stinker<\/em>,\u201d adding, \u201cAnyone defending the proposal we have just agreed will find it like trying to polish a turd<\/em>,\u201d reported the Sun. In a statement released by Downing Street, May thanked Johnson for his work.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s certainly been a memorable journey for Johnson as Britain’s top diplomat – rarely out of the headlines for a catalogue of cringeworthy foreign affairs gaffes.<\/p>\n

\u2018Part-Kenyan\u2019 outburst at Obama<\/strong><\/p>\n

Johnson, a vocal Brexiteer, wrote an article in the Sun newspaper in April 2016 suggesting US President Barack Obama\u2019s decision to replace a bust of Britain\u2019s Winston Churchill with one of US civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was a \u201csymbol of the part-Kenyan president\u2019s ancestral dislike of the British Empire of which Churchill had been such a fervent defender<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

After reading the article and becoming riled by the foreign secretary\u2019s \u201cracially-tinged<\/em>\u201d remarks, Obama reportedly said: \u201cHe is their Trump,<\/em>\u201d according to Ben Rhodes, the former US president\u2019s deputy national security adviser.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0Boris is the \u2018British Trump\u2019: Obama\u2019s nickname for Johnson revealed<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Boris \u2018I\u2019d lie in front of the bulldozers\u2019 Johnson misses key Heathrow debate<\/strong><\/p>\n

During his 2015 general election victory speech when he became Tory MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip – a west London constituency affected by\u00a0Heathrow airport’s contentious third runway\u00a0expansion – Johnson claimed:\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I will lie down with you in front of those bulldozers and stop the construction of that third runway.<\/em>“<\/p>\n

The ex-foreign secretary was subsequently mocked by a myriad of politicians, including Tories, for avoiding voting against the government’s plans to expand.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

.@BorisJohnson<\/a> I was in the room when you said you’d lie down in front of bulldozers to stop a third runway at Heathrow.<\/p>\n

Where will you be on Monday when I vote against Heathrow expansion? pic.twitter.com\/SvMgCCGTaP<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 John McDonnell MP (@johnmcdonnellMP) June 21, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/center><\/div>\n

It transpired that Brits would not be afforded the spectacle of the foreign secretary lying prostrate in front of oncoming bulldozers, as his strength of feeling appeared to quickly evaporate with revelations he would miss the vital vote to fly out to Afghanistan and meet with the country’s deputy foreign minister.<\/p>\n

\n

Read more<\/p>\n


\n \"
\n <\/a>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018Dead bodies\u2019 in Libya & a colonial poem in Myanmar<\/strong><\/p>\n

He suggested in October 2017 that Libya could become the next Dubai, but it had to clear away the \u201cdead bodies<\/em>\u201d first. The comment was made at a Conservative Party Conference fringe event, prompting calls for him to be sacked.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a group of UK business people, actually, some wonderful guys who want to invest in Sirte on the coast, near where Gaddafi was captured and executed, as some of you may have seen<\/em>,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have got a brilliant vision to turn Sirte into the next Dubai<\/em>,\u201d he continued. \u201cThe only thing they have got to do is clear the dead bodies away<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson was also accused of being remarkably undiplomatic after a video emerged of him reciting a colonial poem by Rudyard Kipling on his visit to Myanmar earlier this year. At one point, the British ambassador interjected to point out that it wasn\u2019t the best choice of literature for the occasion.<\/p>\n

Jumps headlong into Russia blame game over Novichok – despite lack of evidence<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the wake of the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury in March, Johnson was asked by German TV about his conviction that Russia was the root of the toxic material. \u201cHow did you manage to find it out so quickly? Does Britain possess samples of it?<\/em>\u201d they asked.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cLet me be clear with you\u2026 When I look at the evidence, I mean the people from Porton Down, the laboratory<\/em>,\u201d he replied, before the presenter interjected, \u201cSo they have the samples?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cThey do. And they were absolutely categorical and I asked the guy myself, I said, \u2018Are you sure?\u2019 And he said there’s no doubt<\/em>,\u201d Johnson replied.<\/p>\n

However, Johnson\u2019s conclusion was at striking odds with Porton Down\u2019s own chief executive, Gary Aitkenhead, who just weeks later insisted that, while the experts had identified the agent as A-234, or Novichok, they had \u201cnot identified the precise source<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wrongly stating that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was a trained journalist visiting Iran<\/strong><\/p>\n

The strongest calls for Johnson\u2019s resignation came in November, when Johnson told a Commons select committee that jailed British mum Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been teaching journalism on behalf of her former employer, the Thomson Reuters Foundation, when she was visiting family in Iran.<\/p>\n

The charge almost resulted in her five-year sentence being doubled. He was later forced to apologize for his comments after a significant backlash.<\/p>\n

\n

Read more<\/p>\n


\n \"Former
\n <\/a>\n<\/div>\n

And finally\u2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If truth be told, Boris Johnson has committed enough blunders to qualify for a \u2018Guinness World Record\u2019 under the achievement: \u201cRecord number of gaffes recorded by a British foreign secretary<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two final nuggets to detail include the bumbling Johnson entering the Spectator\u2019s 2016 competition to write the most offensive poem about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan. His contribution described Erdo\u011fan masturbating and having sex with a goat – not the greatest diplomatic move.<\/p>\n

He was also forced to apologize for using several racist words in a 2002 newspaper column to describe people that then-Prime Minister Tony Blair would be visiting on a trip to the continent of Africa.<\/p>\n

He suggested Blair would be greeted “with crowds of flag-waving piccaninnies<\/em>” \u2014 a highly offensive term for a black child. He added that when Blair touched down in Congo, the “tribal warriors will all break out in watermelon smiles<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

Omar Baggili, RT<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Like this story? Share it with a friend!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n