Boris Johnson, one of the leaders of the Brexit movement and a lifelong racist, xenophobic clown, is now the UK Foreign Secretary, which means that he gets to do press conferences with John Kerry in front of the US State Department press corps.
The corps did itself proud yesterday. The AP's Brad Klapper asked him to answer for his remarks on Obama (saying that he was "part Kenyan" and thus harboring "ancestral dislike for the British Empire") and Hillary Clinton ("dyed blond hair and pouty lips and a steely blue stare, like the sadistic nurse in a mental hospital").
Johnson was also asked to account for his "history of wild exaggerations and outright lies."
Kerry's reactions — barely masked — make the video a priceless watch.
“You’ve accused the the current US president Barack Obama of harboring a part-Kenyan’s, quote, ‘ancestral dislike for the British Empire,’ unquote, while claiming, I think untruthfully at the time, that he didn’t want a Churchill bust in the White House. You‘ve described possible future US president Hillary Clinton as someone with, quote, ‘dyed blond hair and pouty lips and a steely blue stare, like the sadistic nurse in a mental hospital,’ unquote. You’ve also likened her to Lady MacBeth. Do you take these comments back? Or do you want to take them with you into your new job as some sort of indicator of the type of diplomacy you will practice?”
Klapper tacked on an equally devastating follow-up for secretary Kerry:
“Given that Mr. Johnson led a campaign that your government viewed pretty universally as detrimental to UK, EU, and even US interests, what confidence do you have that as foreign secretary Mr. Johnson will represent the interests of anyone but himself? If the Mr. Johnson you saw during the referendum campaign what the US, UK, and EU need right now, at a time of so many challenges?”
Watch John Kerry try not to laugh as the State Dept. press corps rips into Boris Johnson
[Jake Flanagin/Quartz]
