Boris Johnson is seen as a “joke” by EU diplomats, his own civil servants and even the Trump White House, it was claimed today.
The Foreign Secretary faced multiple attacks after a former senior Whitehall chief Lord Kerr claimed he lacked respect in America and Europe.
Johnson risked fresh irritation among allies of Theresa May last week as he used a trip to Libya to ridicule her decision to call a snap general election.
But he faced embarrassment himself as MPs, ministers and officials lined up to declare that he was “a clown” who failed to focus on his important brief.
One diplomatic source told The Times newspaper that officials in the White House “don’t want to go anywhere near Boris because they think he’s a joke”.
Former head of the Foreign Office, Lord Kerr was withering in an Evening Standard editorial, attacking Johnson’s lack of visibility and credibility as the globe faced a string of vital issues from Syria to Korea to Russia.
“Keeping our heads down isn’t always wrong. But a policy of always doing so risks seeming ignominious . . . Callaghan, Carrington, Howe, Hurd: foreign secretaries used to cut ice abroad, particularly in Europe and America, but maybe that’s not Boris’ game,” Lord Kerr wrote.
But one unnamed minister also told the Times: “It’s worse in Europe. There is not a single foreign minister there who takes him seriously. They think he’s a clown who can never resist a gag.”
“The French think Boris is totally unreliable, the Germans think he’s a liar and the Italians think he’s dangerous,” a Tory MP added.
“He is undermining our ability to negotiate internationally and degrading our position abroad. The foreign secretary is supposed to enhance Britain’s reputation but all over the world Boris is making matters worse.”
The paper claimed that civil servants in the Foreign Office were “horrified” by Johnson’s “lack of discipline” and had taken to dealing instead with his deputy Sir Alan Duncan, the Europe minister, when they need a decision.
Worse still, it was claimed that some of the UK’s intelligence agencies haver “a nervousness about giving sensitive material to a politician who treats every public outing like an after-dinner speech.
“It’s all about managing Boris, not respecting him,” said one Whitehall source. “He’s got no concentration span so it’s difficult to have a detailed discussion with him. The whole thing is completely ramshackle for someone who is supposed to be so clever. He doesn’t know what he thinks so he flies by the seat of his pants.”
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