The Guardian - 24.07.2019

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:4 Edition Date:190724 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 23/7/2019 20:33 cYanmaGentaYellowbl

• The Guardian Wednesday 24 July 2019

(^4) National
Tory leadership
United ‘Kingston’
Ivanka Trump has been mocked
after congratulating Boris Johnson
on becoming the next prime
minister of the “United Kingston”.
The tweet from the US president’s
daughter and close adviser was
up for about half an hour before
being deleted, giving Twitter users
plenty of time to poke fun.
The tweet follows an error
by Donald Trump in which he
described meeting the “Prince of
Whales”. One Twitter user posted:
“No Whales isn’t in England. It’s
part of the United Kingston.”
The term “United Kingston” was
soon trending on Twitter. PA
Jessica Elgot
Chief political correspondent
“I want to begin by thanking my
opponent, Jeremy – an absolutely
formidable campaigner, a great
leader and a great politician. In the
course of 20 hustings events ... you
have been friendly, good-natured, a
fount of brilliant ideas, all of which
I propose to steal.
“And above all I want to thank
our outgoing leader, Theresa May,
for her extraordinary service to
First speech
What the
winner said

• and what

he meant

Brussels greets

Johnson victory

by rejecting his

Brexit demands

Daniel Boff ey

Brussels

Boris Johnson’s election as Conserva-

tive leader has been greeted in Brussels

with a rejection of the incoming Brit-

ish prime minister’s Brexit demands

and an ominous warning by the

newly appointed European commis-

sion president about the “challenging

times ahead”.

As she off ered her congratulations

to Johnson on his victory, Ursula von

der Leyen , who will replace Jean-

Claude Juncker on 1 November, said

both sides had a “duty” to deliver a

deal. “There are many diffi cult issues

we will tackle together ,” she said.

“ It is important to build up a strong

working relationship because we have

a duty to deliver something which is

good for the people in Europe and the

United Kingdom.”

The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator,

Michel Barnier , tweeted that he wanted

to work “constructively” with Johnson

on the basis that both sides were com-

mitted to facilitating “the ratifi cation

of the withdrawal agreement” – the

deal struck by Theresa May, which the

new Conservative leader has repeat-

edly described as dead.

The French president, Emmanuel

Macron, said he wished “very much

to work with [Johnson] as quickly as

possible” and would call him “when

he is offi cially prime minister”.

The German chancellor, Angela

Merkel, echoed those comments,

adding that her country and Britain

“should be close friends in future”.

But in an indication of the political

baggage that Johnson will bring into

Downing Street, EU offi cials felt free

to take potshots in the hours before

the announcement of his election by

the Conservative party membership.

One eastern European commis-

sioner, Vytenis Andriukaitis , likened

Johnson’s “unrealistic promises” to

those of the former Russian president

Boris Yeltsin. The Lithuanian health

commissioner wrote in a blogpost

published on the European commis-

sion website: “It is a diff erent Boris,

of course, but there was something

in the way of doing politics that was

similar: many unrealistic promises,

ignoring economic rationales and

rational decisions.

“These decisions led to a new

autocratic constitution and fi nally

paved the way to Vladimir Putin.

Today in Russia we have oligarchs,

a pseudo-market economy, a regu-

lated, governed pseudo-democracy.

And, Putin’s authoritarianism.

“For Boris Yeltsin, the warning

came true: ‘Boris, you are wrong.’

Hopefully, it will not be the case for

Boris Johnson if he is elected today.”

Andriukaitis added: “I can only

wish him luck in ‘taking back control’,

spending more money on the NHS,

swiftly concluding new trade agree-

ments. In other words, I hope and wish

that he does not give anyone a reason

to use the quote ‘Boris, you are wrong’

against him.”

During the leadership campaign,

Johnson said he would scrap the

Irish backstop and hold back Britain’s

£39b n fi nancial settlement until the

EU agreed a comprehensive trade deal.

At a press conference in Brussels,

Frans Timmermans , a former Dutch

foreign minister and Juncker’s deputy

in the commission, stood by his recent

comments in which he accused John-

son of “playing games” with Brexit.

He said the new British prime min-

ister’s “character, persona, attitude”

would have no bearing on the EU’s

negotiating position.

“ He took a long time deciding

whether he was for or against Brexit,”

Timmermans said. “And now his posi-

tion is clear. I think the position of the

EU is also clear. The United Kingdom

reached an agreement with the Euro-

pean Union and the European Union

will stick to that agreement. And we

will hear what the new prime minister

has to say when he comes to Brussels.”

Timmermans, who insisted that

the British public had not voted for

no deal when they voted for Brexit

in 2016 , said: “I think what came

out of the negotiation is the best

possible solution in a very compli-

cated situation. It does justice to both

the position of the EU and the United

Kingdom and I would hope we can

continue to work on the basis of that

assumption ...

“The world’s politics is rife with

colourful people these days and if

you can’t deal with them there is not

much you can do ... I don’t think his

character, persona, attitude makes any

diff erence in that sense. ”

 The former

secretary of

defence Gavin

Williamson, a

Johnson ally

PHOTOGRAPH:

JAMES VEYSEY/REX

this party and to this country.

It was a privilege to serve in her

cabinet and to see the passion and

determination that she brought

to the many causes that are her

legacy.”

This is a generous tribute to Hunt,

who ran a more attacking campaign

than many people had expected,

challenging his rival’s seriousness

and knack of dodging diffi cult

questions. Johnson’s praise of

Hunt’s “brilliant ideas” suggests the

latter will have a signifi cant role in

the cabinet by Wednesday night.

The tribute paid to May, however,

appears to be a lot more perfunctory.

“There will be people around the

place who will question the wisdom

of your decision. And there may

even be some people here who

wonder quite what they have done.

And no one person, no one party,

has a monopoly of wisdom.”

This is Johnson’s tongue-in-cheek

nod to the fact there will be many

people in his own party feeling

deeply concerned about his

appointment, as well as by the level

of seriousness that he would bring to

the offi ce – not to mention his pledge

for a “do-or-die” Brexit and his eye-

watering spending pledges. There

is perhaps a hint here that Johnson

intends to seek cool-headed advice,

since he suggests he does not have

“a monopoly of wisdom”. That is the

hope that many of his doubters still

hold.

“Today, at this pivotal moment

in our history, we again have to

reconcile two sets of instincts, two

noble instincts, between the deep

desire of friendship and trade,

and mutual support and security

between Britain and our European

partners, and the simultaneous

desire, equally deep and heartfelt,

for democratic self-government in

this country. Some people say

they are irreconcilable and it just

can’t be done.”

This is the beginning of Johnson’s

charm off ensive towards the

remainers in his party, three of

whom left the government over

the past week just in anticipation

of his victory. He suggests that

he understands their instinct to

maintain close ties with the EU,

but also talks about one of the

Liz Truss and

Grant Shapps

(centre) mingling

with their Tory

colleagues

PHOTOGRAPH: DAN

KITWOOD/GETTY

 Jacob Rees-

Mogg speaks to

the media at

the QEII centre

yesterday

PHOTOGRAPH: TOLGA

AKMEN/AFP/GETTY

▼ Boris Johnson’s father, Stanley, the

new leader’s brother Jo and his sister,

Rachel, as the winner is named

PHOTOGRAPH: STEFAN ROUSSEAU/EPA

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