British Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday filled out her Cabinet posts, assembling a government that sweeps away many of her predecessor’s supporters and places strongly anti-EU figures in key international roles.
After filling half a dozen of the top jobs on Wednesday — including surprise choice former London mayor Boris Johnson as foreign secretary — May made new appointments yesterday, including Secretary of Justice Liz Truss and Secretary of Education Justine Greening.
She also cleared out rivals, firing stalwarts of former British prime minister David Cameron’s administration, including secretary of culture John Whittingdale, secretary of education Nicky Morgan and — most significantly — secretary of justice Michael Gove, her onetime competitor for the job of Conservative leader.
Photo: AFP
Gove led the “Leave” side in Britain’s EU referendum battle alongside Johnson, then betrayed him by making a bid for Conservative leadership — a job Johnson had long sought.
May won the leadership battle and quickly sacked Gove, who is now seen as treacherous by many Conservatives. She rewarded Johnson with the plum job of foreign secretary.
He is a surprising choice to be Britain’s top diplomat. The former London mayor is internationally famous — but for rumpled eccentricity and distinctly undiplomatic gaffes, rather than statesmanlike behavior.
In April, he suggested that US President Barack Obama had an “ancestral dislike” of Britain because he is part-Kenyan.
Johnson said he was “very excited” to be part of the government. Asked whom he would apologize to first, he said “the United States of America will be at the front of the queue.”
British Chief Secretary to the Treasury Philip Hammond reassured a startled world that Johnson — whose responsibilities include oversight of the MI6 spy agency — would be a team player.
“The Cabinet works collectively and we have got a range of different characters and a range of different styles and a range of different talent,” he told BBC radio. “The lead and the tone will be set by the prime minister.”
Lesser-known than Johnson, but at least as important to Britain’s future is David Davis, the cumbersomely titled British secretary of state for exiting the EU. Davis, a veteran lawmaker who has twice run for the Conservative leadership, is one of the staunchest euroskeptics in British politics.
He is also a formidable battler, as May knows. For years the libertarian Davis has sparred with May over the powers of Britain’s spy agencies. He is currently suing the British government in the European courts against surveillance laws May introduced as home secretary.
Davis has previously said that Britain should take a “brisk, but measured” approach to exit talks with the EU. He has said that Article 50 of the EU constitution — the formal trigger for two years of negotiations — should be invoked by the start of next year.
Other EU leaders are already pressuring Britain to open formal talks — and warning that the UK cannot have access to the single European market without accepting free movement of EU citizens, a sticking point for many pro-Brexit Britons.
Juergen Hardt, the foreign policy spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party in parliament, yesterday said that many British suggestions on the country’s future relationship with the EU are “unworkable.”
Hardt said that “free access to the common market means, among other things, accepting other fundamental freedoms such as the freedom of movement.”
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