ShortList is supported by you, our amazing readers. When you click through the links on our site and make a purchase we may earn a commission. Learn more

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was grilled over his ‘outright lies’ by US journalists and it was awkward

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was grilled over his ‘outright lies’ by US journalists and it was awkward

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was grilled over his ‘outright lies’ by US journalists and it was awkward

Ah, Boris Johnson: the man who could only become Foreign Secretary in the middle of the timeline between 'Bowie dies' and 'The entire world ends'. 

As you might recall, the world reacted to BoJo's new position by pointing out that he has a terrible track record of foreign diplomacy already, and now he's had to face these accusations head on, when at a press conference last night, reporters grilled him on his past "vile exaggerations and frankly outright lies". 

Standing next to a noticeably embarrassed US secretary of state, John Kerry, Boris claimed his past remarks have been taken out of context.

“We can spend an awfully long time going over lots of stuff that I’ve written over the last 30 years … all of which in my view have been taken out of context, through what alchemy I do not know – somehow misconstrued that it would really take me too long to engage in a full global itinerary of apology to all concerned," he said, with a few blusters added in for good measure. 

Translation: "I can't apologise to everyone because I've pissed off way too many people."

Despite making the-best-facial-expression-known-to-man moments earlier, Kerry supported our new Foreign Secretary, saying that Boris Johnson was a bright and capable man. In those words. Those were the words. We're not commenting or anything, but those. Those were the words.