In February 2018, the British foreign secretary declared: “It makes sense for us to continue to be intimately involved in European foreign and security policy.” But when he became prime minister he took foreign and security policy cooperation off the table in Brexit negotiations.
Inconsistency is not rare in Boris Johnson’s record. Two years before that 2018 speech, during the referendum campaign, he was singing a different tune, blaming the EU’s association agreement with Ukraine for provoking Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Mr Johnson claimed Brussels was meddling beyond its competence and could only “cause confusion”.
