The Atlantic

The Shadow of Boris Johnson

The former foreign secretary was steering a diminished Britain—and may have helped accelerate its decline.
Source: Peter Nicholls / Reuters

It’s not hard to discern the similarities between President Donald Trump, who is visiting the U.K. this week following the NATO summit, and Boris Johnson, who resigned as U.K. foreign secretary on Monday. The two share an affinity for offensive language, alienating their colleagues, and a casual disregard for the facts, among other traits. They also appear to share a mutual affection—Johnson, who quit in the apparent belief that Prime Minister Theresa May was not pursuing a hard enough version of Brexit, at a private dinner: “Imagine Trump doing Brexit. He’d go in bloody hard. … There’d be all sorts of breakdowns, all sorts of chaos. Everyone would think he’d gone mad. But actually you might get somewhere. It’s a very, very good thought.” Trump, for his part, Johnson a “friend” earlier this week, and said

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