New British PM faces old Brexit conundrum
New leader has 99 days to remove Britain from the EU
LONDON — Boris Johnson took over as Britain’s prime minister Wednesday, vowing to break the impasse that defeated his predecessor by leading the country out of the European Union, and silencing “the doubters, the doomsters, the gloomsters.”
But the brash Brexit champion faces the same problems that flummoxed Theresa May during her three years in office: heading a government without a parliamentary majority and with most lawmakers opposed to leaving the EU without a divorce deal.
Johnson has just 99 days to keep his promise to deliver Brexit by Oct. 31 after what he called “three years of unfounded self-doubt.”
He optimistically pledged to get “a new deal, a better deal” with the EU than the one secured by May, which was repeatedly rejected by Britain’s Parliament.
Trying to avoid the political divisions that plagued May, Johnson swept out many of her ministers to make way for his own team, dominated by loyal Brexiteers. He appointed Sajid Javid to the key role of Treasury chief, named staunch Brexit supporter Dominic Raab foreign secretary and made Priti Patel the new home secretary, or interior minister. Michael Gove, who ran the 2016 campaign to leave the EU alongside Johnson, also got a Cabinet job.
Over half of May’s Cabinet is gone, including ex-Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Johnson’s defeated rival for the Tory leadership, who said he had turned down the chance to stay in government in a different job.
In his first speech as prime minister, Johnson unleashed a scattershot spray of promises — from more police on the streets to ending a ban on genetically modified crops to faster internet access.
To the many critics of the polarizing politician, it was typical of a verbal vim that is not always wedded to hard facts.