Boris Johnson Grilled over Past ‘Outright Lies’ at Uneasy Press Conference

Standing alongside John Kerry, the US secretary of state, on Tuesday night Johnson claimed his remarks had been misconstrued, that his past journalism had been taken out of context, and world leaders he had met since his appointment fully understood his past remarks.

Johnson was holding a press conference designed to showcase the continuing closeness of the UK-US special relationship in the wake of Brexit, as well as the joint commitment to finding a solution to the crisis in Syria.

Johnson twice referred to the crisis in Egypt, but was believed to be referring to Turkey.

He came under strongest attack from American journalists who asked him if he was going to apologize to world leaders for his past insults, including to US president Barack Obama, and whether other politicians could trust him.

Johnson, holding the press conference in the British Foreign Office, said, “We can spend an awfully long time going over lots of stuff that I’ve written over the last 30 years … all of which in my view have been taken out of context, through what alchemy I do not know – somehow misconstrued that it would really take me too long to engage in a full global itinerary of apology to all concerned.”

“There is a rich thesaurus of things that I have said that have one way or the other I don’t know how that has been misconstrued. Most people when they read these things in their proper context can see what was intended, and indeed virtually everyone I have met in this job understands that very well particularly on the international scene. We have very serious issues before us today we have an unfolding humanitarian crisis in Syria that is getting worse. We have a crisis in Yemen that is intractable and a burgeoning crisis on Egypt and those are to my mind far more important than any obiter dicta you may have disinterred from 30 years of journalism,” he added.

The event was probably Johnson’s bumpiest ride since his appointment as foreign secretary less than a week ago, although he was booed by a section of the audience after speaking at the French ambassador’s party on Bastille Day, the Guardian reported.

Pressed by an American reporter on a series of remarks he had made about world leaders, Johnson was asked whether he wanted to apologize or instead take them with him as foreign secretary. He joked that it would take “too long” to issue an apology for all the things he had written.

Kerry was forced to prop up Johnson saying the UK had made it clear after the EU referendum that it was committed to the UN, NATO and to making the world safer.

“The people of Britain voted. This is a democracy and we all respect a democracy,” he said, adding that he had been told Johnson was a very bright and capable man.