Brexiteer Boris Johnson content to play second fiddle for now but leadership aspirations remain
Foreign secretary’s colourful style contrasts sharply with Prime Minister Theresa May’s no-nonsense approach and the two have clashed in the past
After years as the court jester of British politics, Boris Johnson now has one of its top jobs as foreign minister. But while his star dimmed after the Brexit vote, insiders say his ambition to be prime minister has not.
His path to Downing Street may not be straightforward, despite the standing ovation the man credited with taking Britain out of the EU got at the Conservative conference in Birmingham on Sunday. Boris, as he is known, must now help to deliver Brexit and will eventually have to put his name to a deal which could prove deeply divisive.
He’s kind of at a crossroads. If Brexit negotiations go well, then his political career will continue to rise and he might well be feted as another leader
“Johnson doubtless still wants to run the country in some distant day,” said Paul Goodman, editor of the influential ConservativeHome website and a former MP. “He knows well that his best means of doing so now – and in future – is to get on with the day job.”
Popular with the public, the ex-mayor of London is seen by many voters as a breath of fresh air for capers like getting stuck on a zipwire at the 2012 London Olympics and flattening a Japanese schoolboy while playing rugby.
With typical bravado performance Sunday, he invoked JK Rowling and the Kardashians, Brexit and the Iraq war in arguing why Britain should stand up for liberal democracy and capitalism. But his appointment in July was greeted with incredulity by many on the world stage.
A clip of US State Department spokesman Mark Toner struggling to keep a straight face at the news went viral online, while Sweden’s former foreign minister Carl Bildt said: “I wish it was a joke.”