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Theresa May has accused Boris Johnson of abandoning Britain’s “global moral leadership position” in her most unbridled attack on his successor yet.
Writing in the Daily Mail ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, the former prime minister had stern words both about outgoing US President Donald Trump and his successor.
May said that, in her view, Johnson has failed to respect British values by threatening to violate international law during the Brexit trade negotiations and by withdrawing from the foreign aid target, writing that these two maneuvers had not “increased our credibility to the eyes of the world. “
“Threatening to violate international law by backtracking on a treaty we just signed and abandoning our position of global moral leadership as the only major economy meeting both the defense spending target of 2% and the international aid target of 0.7 % were not actions that raised our credibility in the eyes of the world, ”he wrote.
In her article, May seemed to remind Johnson that he needed to live up to “our values” in order to have any aspiration for a truly “global Britain” to play a key role on the international political stage, and urged him to make a commitment. .
“We have been sliding towards absolutism in international affairs: if you are not 100% in my favor, you must be 100% against me,” he said. “Commitment is seen as a dirty word.”
“We must reject a scene in which some strong men confront each other and instead unite people in a common cause. But to lead we must live up to our values. “
May and Johnson have clashed repeatedly in the Commons over the past year and a half, particularly over Brexit talks involving Northern Ireland and the Good Friday deal.
Comparing the assault on the United States Capitol to “attacks on our own democratic institutions” such as the assassination of PC Keith Palmer, who died during the Westminster terrorist attack in 2017, May condemned Trump for “whipping” a violent mob. and described the elections. of a “decent” Biden as the next president of the United States as a “golden opportunity” for Britain to once again become a force for good in the world.
“What happened in Washington was not the act of a lone extremist or a secret cell, but an assault by a partisan mob whipped by a president-elect. I know from experience that leaving power is not easy, especially when you feel there is more you want to do. “
May was the first foreign leader to meet Trump at the White House in 2017.
• This article was amended on January 20, 2021. An earlier version said that Theresa May “was the first foreign head of state to meet with Trump at the White House in 2016.” The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government, not the head of state; and the meeting took place in January 2017. These errors have been fixed.
