The new British foreign minister has called on Russia and others to support the ouster of Syria's president. His statement represents a back pedaling from earlier praise for Assad's assault on "Islamic State."
Image: Getty Images/D. Kitwood
Advertisement
The departure of President Bashar al-Assad is crucial to resolving the conflict in Syria, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said ahead of talks with his US and European counterparts on Tuesday.
"I will be making clear my view that the suffering of the Syrian people will not end while Assad remains in power. The international community, including Russia, must be united on this," Johnson will say, according to remarks released by his office in advance of the meeting.
This statement comes ahead of a meeting with Germany, France, Italy and the European Union in London to discuss Syria's five-year conflict, which has spurred the rise of the "Islamic State" (IS), sucked in regional and major powers and created the world's worst refugee crisis.
Johnson adopts the UK's 'Cold War mindset'
The ancient city of Palmyra in Syria, where ruins were partially demolished by IS was recaptured by Syrian and Russian forcesImage: Imago/Kyodo News
His latest anti-Assad statement is in line with longstanding British policy but a reversal from his earlier stance. Speaking in December, before his appointment as foreign secretary, Johnson had called for Britain to set aside a "Cold War mindset" when dealing with Russia over Syria.
In a newspaper column in March titled "Bravo for Assad," Johnson credited the Syrian strongman for saving the ancient city of Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage site, from IS militants.
"No matter how repulsive the Assad regime may be - and it is - their opponents in Islamic State ...are far, far worse," Johnson wrote in London's Daily Telegraph newspaper.
Assad has powerful allies in the region including Russia and Iran. Moscow has made clear it would only consider Assad's departure if there were guarantees the Syrian government itself would not fall leading to a power vacuum that would further destabilize the region and harm Russia's strategic interests.
The last round of talks between the Syrian government and opposition militias broke up at the end of April as Assad's forces, backed by Russian air strikes, escalated their assault on rebel-held areas in the northern city of Aleppo.
Boris Johnson: The UK foreign secretary's biggest blunders
British PM Theresa May left politicians and critics aghast after appointing Boris Johnson as foreign secretary. Far from renowned for his diplomatic prowess, DW takes a look at Johnson's worst gaffes on the world stage.
Image: Getty Images/D. Kitwood
Brexit club
The pro-Brexit campaigner will now be making frequent appearances in Brussels. The euroskeptic wasn't always so adverse to European integration, whatever his EU opinions. In 1997, he said: "I'm rather pro-European ... I certainly want a European community where one can go off and scoff croissants, drink delicious coffee, learn foreign languages and generally make love to foreign women."
Image: Getty Images/B. Pruchnie
'Crass and tasteless'
Guests at a gay rights event in 2013 walked out in disgust after Johnson said the following about gay marriage: "I’m delighted that as of this autumn any young man will be able to take his chum up the Arsenal ... and marry him." Labour's Angela Eagle, the first female MP to come out while in office, said that Johnson's "crass and tasteless remarks" only served to undermine the gay community.
Image: Getty Images/D. Kitwood
Hitler jokes? Nein, danke
Earlier this summer Johnson struck again, comparing the EU's aims to Hitler's. Speaking to UK newspaper "The Telegraph," Johnson said European history had seen repeated attempts to rediscover the "golden age of peace and prosperity under the Romans." "Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this out, and it ends tragically. The EU is an attempt to do this by different methods," he said.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/S. Rousseau
'Special relationship'
Born in New York, Johnson has upset the "special relationship" with the US more than once. In April, Johnson faced huge criticism after recounting the story of a bust of Winston Churchill being moved from the White House to the British Embassy. In the British tabloid "The Sun," Johnson asked whether the move was "a symbol of the part-Kenyan President's ancestral dislike of the British Empire."
Image: Getty Images/D. Kitwood
Only one laughing
But Johnson is no stranger to making derogatory comments. In his 2002 column, he described how the Queen had "come to love the Commonwealth, partly because it supplies her with regular cheering crowds of flag-waving piccaninnies." Commenting on then-Prime Minister Tony Blair's trip to Congo, Johnson wrote how "the tribal warriors will all break out in watermelon smiles to see the big white chief."
Image: Getty Images/B. Pruchnie
Woes with the West Bank
In November last year, Palestinian authorities canceled Johnson's visit after he said a boycott of Israeli goods was "completely crazy" and supported by "corduroy-jacketed, snaggle-toothed, lefty academics in the UK." Officials said Johnson's comments risked creating protests if he visited the West Bank, and accused him of adopting a "misinformed and disrespectful" pro-Israeli stance.
Image: Reuters/P. Nicholls
Bull in a china shop
In 2008, Johnson even managed to offend his hosts at the ceremonial passing of the Olympic flag from Beijing to London. "I say this respectfully to our Chinese hosts, who have excelled so magnificently at Ping-pong," Johnson said. "Ping-pong was invented on the dining tables of England in the 19th century and it was called Wiff-waff!"
Image: Getty Images/C. Brunskill
No Shakespeare
Johnson won a £1,000 prize in May for penning a poem about Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in which he referred to the Turkish prime minister as a "wankerer," rhyming with the Turkish capital, Ankara - a far cry from Johnson arguing that Turkey should join the EU in 2006. The competition was launched after Erdogan sued German comedian Jan Böhmermann, whose poem accused him of having sex with a goat.
