The Special Relationship is looking more… special than ever as Boris Johnson and John Kerry laugh off past beef in their first joint presser.
This was the Secretary of State’s response today to a hack’s question about the “outright lies” he said Johnson told about the US in his fruitful past:
John Kerry's face when a US journalist accuses Boris of making "outright lies" is quite something. pic.twitter.com/s8zR55BE1r
— Richard James (@richjamesuk) July 19, 2016
Boris, as is his wont, managed to laugh it off relatively comfortably, on the grounds that he has taken a swing at virtually everyone in his time:
Johnson dismisses question about things he's said in the past on the basis that there's too many of them to deal with. Plus a bit of Latin.
— Robert Hutton (@RobDotHutton) July 19, 2016
Kerry helped him out, and praised him as a “very smart and capable man”, before moving on to anticipate a fruitful relationship between the two countries.
The fact that the two are technically countrymen may well help them out.
'It's called diplomacy, Boris' – John Kerry tries to show Johnson the ropeshttps://t.co/p2TcXhryib
— 5News (@5_News) July 19, 2016
He may not remember, but Kerry has been a direct target of Boris’ ire before.
More than a decade ago, in 2004, he took a swing at Kerry, then running for president, over his inconsistent attitude towards the Iraq war.
An item in the Evening Standard‘s Londoner’s Diary, penned by Heat Street‘s Tom Teodorczuk, recalled: “Boris also can’t resist criticising John Kerry’s ‘flip-flopping over the war, the supporting it and yet not supporting it'”.
Time, evidently, heals all wounds.
