Although the EU’s worst fears weren’t realized in 2016 when, following Cameron’s resignation, Johnson failed in his bid to become leader, officials considered his appointment by May as foreign secretary nearly as dangerous. Several spoke privately at the time of their concerns that he would wreak havoc at meetings with his EU counterparts.
“During the campaign, he told a lot of lies to the British people,” France’s then foreign minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, told Europe 1 radio shortly after Johnson’s appointment.
The characterization in Europe of Johnson as a liar is a common theme. It’s not helped by his period as Brussels correspondent for the Daily Telegraph between 1989-1994. Then, he earned a reputation for whipping up euroskeptic sentiment with headline-grabbing stories that weren’t always credible.
More recently, the Independent Press Standards Organisation, a U.K. body monitoring newspapers and magazines, upheld a complaint that Johnson had inaccurately reported polling support for a “no-deal” Brexit in an opinion piece for the Telegraph published in January.
He angered European governments further when, in 2016, he likened the EU’s ambitions to Adolf Hitler’s attempt to dominate the continent.
His reputation will make negotiating with him on Brexit very difficult, officials said. The main reason why the EU wanted May to stay in the post until the negotiations were complete was that they knew where she stood and they understood her strategy, they said.
Brexit diplomats have already discussed how to confront a Johnson premiership, according to one EU official. He is likely to stiffen the EU’s resolve to refuse to reopen discussions on the deal and could make EU leaders less likely to agree to postpone Brexit still further, the official said.
Ironically, that could make the “no-deal” Brexit that EU officials fear Johnson wants, a more likely outcome, the official said.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.