Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Tribune News Service
Tribune News Service
World
Flavia Krause-Jackson

UK's Boris Johnson's latest blunder overshadows his Brexit challenge

LONDON �� Another mistake by gaffe-prone Boris Johnson is tarnishing the U.K. foreign secretary's latest challenge to Prime Minister Theresa May.

During a January visit to Myanmar's holiest Buddhist site, he began to recite a colonial-era poem before being cut off mid-sentence by the British ambassador. "You're on mic. Probably not a good idea," he was told. Johnson responded: "What, 'The Road to Mandalay?'" The answer: "No. Not appropriate." The poem by Rudyard Kipling is nostalgic about Britain's colonial past in Burma.

The moment was captured by a television crew.

In a way, the timing couldn't be better for May as she tries to get her errant foreign secretary to stop freelancing on Brexit. Johnson has now twice undermined her strategy in key moments, first before her major speech in Florence, and again Friday by listing for the Sun newspaper his four red lines on Brexit.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.