Boris Johnson: I wish I could tweet like Donald Trump
3 min read
Boris Johnson has said he would like to be able to tweet like Donald Trump - but would never be allowed to by the Foreign Office.
The Foreign Secretary said the US president had "gripped the imagination of people around the world" through his unique approach to politics, including his prodigious use of social media.
Mr Johnson also quashed any talk of a leadership challenge against Theresa May, who he said had demonstrated “unbelievable grace and steel” since losing her Commons majority in the general election.
Speaking on Radio Four's Today programme ahead of a bilateral meeting between the Prime Minister and President Trump at the G20 in Hamburg, Mr Johnson said: "Donald Trump’s approach to politics has been something that has gripped the imagination of people around the world.
“He’s engaged people in politics in a way that we haven’t seen for a long time with his tweets and all the rest of it.
“I certainly wouldn’t be allowed to tweet in the way that he does – as much as I might like to. My Foreign Office minder is looking extremely apprehensive here.”
The Foreign Secretaty argued that the UK’s close relationship with the US – underlined by Mrs May’s trip to the White House shortly after President Trump’s inauguration – should not be taken as an expression of support for all US policies.
“It’s very important to understand that our role as the UK is to represent our own point of view – whether it’s on Nato, the vital importance of Article 5 of Nato, whether it’s on climate change, whether it’s on the Iran nuclear accord.
“It’s the UK actually that is helping to mitigate, to get some of those American attitudes and policies that are currently coming out of the White House into a better place.”
THERESA MAY
Despite being continually linked with a run for her job, Mr Johnson said Mrs May would be in Downing Street for a “very long time” and paid tribute to her response to the election.
“I was watching her and thinking what unbelievable grace and steel she has shown over the last few weeks when the thing did not – frankly – look too brilliant on the morning of 9 June, it looked very difficult,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“She’s put things back together, she’s got the show on the road, she’s delivering a stable government as she said she would, and we are getting on with it.
“I think people can be very proud of what this administration is doing. The last thing – to get back to your feeble, inevitable point – the last thing people want is any more of this kind of nonsense. What they want to see is a long period of stability and calm and progress for the British people.”
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
