Ambition Fulfilled for Boris Johnson. But What Next for Britain?

THE GUARDIAN: As he becomes PM, new Tory leader knows he has to unite his party – and deliver Brexit

Boris Johnson will underline his determination to unite a fractured and demoralised Conservative party and deliver Brexit by 31 October as he achieves his long-cherished ambition of becoming Britain’s prime minister.

The new Tory leader has already begun “love-bombing” sceptical centre-ground MPs as Theresa May prepared to leave No 10 Downing Street after three fraught years.

“He is at heart a one-nation Tory. That’s who he is and that’s how he’ll govern,” insisted a Johnson ally.

The former mayor of London swept to a convincing victory over Jeremy Hunt, after securing the backing of ardent Brexiters including Jacob Rees-Mogg and Steve Baker.

Johnson won 66% of the votes – 92,153, to Hunt’s 46,656. Turnout was 87.4% among the Tory party’s 159,320 eligible members.

But with a wafer-thin majority in the House of Commons, he will need the backing of colleagues from both sides of the divide to get a Brexit deal through parliament. » | Heather Stewart and Jessica Elgot | Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Will Boris Johnson Be Up to His New Job? | Inside Story

Boris Johnson will be the UK's Prime Minister after winning the Conservative Party leadership. Boris Johnson had campaigned on a 'do-or-die' pledge to deliver Brexit. The man who has provoked much controversy, won the leadership of the conservatives as was expected, and will be Britain's next prime minister.

When Johnson walks into Number 10, Downing Street this week, he will be tasked with persuading the European Union to revive talks on a withdrawal deal. If that fails, he says he's ready to lead Britain out of the bloc without a deal on the 31st of October.

But Brexit is not Johnson's only challenge. The prime minister has to deal with an escalating standoff with Iran over its seizure of a UK tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. And his critics will be watching very closely how he handles the so-called 'special relationship' with the US.

Donald Trump has backed Johnson to become the UK's prime minister. So, how will he deliver on Brexit and the many other challenges ahead?

Presenter: Divya Gopalan | Guests Catherine McBride, senior economist at Institute for Economic Affairs; Markus Becker, Europe correspondent for the German news magazine ‘Der Spiegel’. Owen Jones, political commentator, and columnist at the British newspaper ‘The Guardian’

The Hard Right Has Captured My Old Party - and Boris Johnson’s Victory Proves It

THE GUARDIAN: The Tories always used to put pragmatic economics first. British voters should not forgive them for abandoning this

Around 92,000 members who no longer even represent Conservative voters have crowned the “clown prince” as our prime minister. Just when we need a prime minister to bring us together, lead us through the Brexit crisis and on to tackling the serious issues we must confront, the party serves up Boris Johnson. His lifelong ambition has finally been realised; no one and nothing was going to get in his way this time, least of all integrity and truth.

The leadership hustings, far from allaying profound fears about Johnson’s ability and mendacity, went further than merely confirming them. Under friendly fire, he revealed he is actually worse than we had thought.

The hustings also revealed the real Conservative party and its drift to the right. It wasn’t simply that the members don’t look like today’s UK – 71% male and 97% white – it was more about what they said. And the regular applause for Johnson’s dog-whistle rightwing rhetoric proved – as did the election result – that Tory members were prepared, indeed pleased, to lose jobs and the union rather than lose their precious no-deal Brexit. That move to the right, away from the centre ground inhabited by One Nation Conservatives, was the major reason I left the Tory party, after serving it as an MP for nine years. » | Anna Soubry | Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Brussels Greets Boris Johnson Victory by Rejecting Brexit Plans

THE GUARDIAN: EU restates opposition as Ursula von der Leyen warns of ‘challenging times ahead’

Boris Johnson’s election as Conservative leader has been greeted in Brussels with a rejection of the incoming British prime minister’s Brexit demands and an ominous warning by the newly appointed European commission president about the “challenging times ahead”.

Ursula von der Leyen, who will replace Jean-Claude Juncker on 1 November, said both sides had a “duty” to deliver a deal as she offered her congratulations to Johnson on his victory.

“There are many difficult issues we will tackle together,” she said. “It is important to build up a strong working relationship because we have a duty to deliver something which is good for the people in Europe and the United Kingdom.”

The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, tweeted that he wanted to work “constructively” with Johnson on the basis that both sides were committed to facilitating “the ratification of the withdrawal agreement”, the deal struck by Theresa May that the new Conservative leader has repeatedly described as dead. » | Daniel Boffey in Brussels | Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Kommentar: Grossbritannien lässt sich auf ein riskantes Abenteuer ein

NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG: Mit dem unberechenbaren Boris Johnson wird ein Politiker britischer Premierminister, der den bedingungslosen Brexit verspricht. Gleichzeitig ist er für seine Wendigkeit bekannt. Die Ungewissheit um seinen künftigen Kurs sorgt für beträchtliche Risiken.

Grossbritannien hat einen neuen Regierungschef, doch ein hoffnungsvoller Neubeginn sieht anders aus. Boris Johnson wird Premierminister eines zutiefst verunsicherten Landes, das sich in der schwierigsten Situation seit Jahrzehnten befindet. Der Mann, der bisher vor allen Dingen durch seinen nonchalanten Umgang mit Fakten, seine impulsive Persönlichkeit und seine gewagten Versprechungen aufgefallen ist, steht nun vor der Aufgabe, Letztgenannte in die Praxis umzusetzen. Wie dieser Zusammenstoss mit der Realität ausgehen wird, ist die grosse Frage. » | Beat Bumberger | Dienstag, 23. Juli 2019

Morning Joe: This Is a New Level of Racism and Hatred | Morning Joe | MSNBC

The president continues to outright question the patriotism of four minority congresswomen, saying he doesn't believe these women are 'capable of loving our Country,' as he wrote in a tweet on Sunday. The panel discusses.

"Mohammed - Der Prophet und seine Zeit" – History Live am 27. März 2016

Er wird als der Gesandte gesehen, der den Menschen das Wort Allahs offenbarte. Zugleich gilt er als religiöser Stifter des Islam, als mächtiger politischer Führer und als bedeutender Feldherr seiner Zeit. Für rund 1,4 Milliarden Muslime weltweit ist der in der zweiten Hälfte des sechsten Jahrhunderts geborene Prophet Mohammed bis heute ein Heiliger und eine der einflussreichsten Erscheinungen der Weltgeschichte.

Doch hat Mohammed tatsächlich so gelebt, wie es in zahlreichen Schriften überliefert ist? Welche Quellen liefern Aufschluss über sein Leben? Und welche Vorstellung können wir uns heute von ihm und seiner Zeit machen? Wird er zurecht von radikalen Fundamentalisten als Vorbild gesehen? Und muss man nach jüngster Quellenlage einen neuen Blick auf das Wirken des Propheten werfen?

Guido Knopp diskutiert mit seinen Gästen:

Tory Leadership Race: Alan Duncan Resigns as Minister

BBC: Sir Alan Duncan has quit as a Foreign Office minister in protest against a possible Boris Johnson victory in the Conservative leadership race.

In his resignation letter, Sir Alan described Brexit as "a dark cloud".

He told the BBC he quit to demand an emergency Commons debate to give MPs a chance to say whether they supported Mr Johnson's "wish to form a government".

The request for a debate - which would not constitute a binding no-confidence vote - was rejected by the Speaker.

Mr Johnson is the frontrunner in the contest which has seen him go head-to-head with Jeremy Hunt for Tory Party members' votes.

The ballot closes at 17:00 BST - the winner will be revealed on Tuesday morning and will become prime minister on Wednesday. » | Monday, July 22, 2019

Opinion: Boris Johnson Is How Britan Ends

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Not with a bang, but with a burst of blond ambition.

LONDON — Boris Johnson, to whom lying comes as easily as breathing, is on the verge of becoming prime minister. He faces the most complex and intractable political crisis to affect Britain since 1945.

That should be concerning enough. But given Britain’s political system — which relies for its maintenance on the character and disposition of the prime minister — it carries even graver import. Mr. Johnson, whose laziness is proverbial and opportunism legendary, is a man well-practiced in deceit, a pander willing to tickle the prejudices of his audience for easy gain. His personal life is incontinent, his public record inconsequential.

And his premiership could bring about the end of Britain itself. » | James Butler* | Monday, July 22, 2019*

* Mr. Butler is a British journalist.

Brian Stelter Lays Out the Pattern of Trump's Race Baiting

CNN's Brian Stelter goes through a chronological history of Trump's race-related provocations, arguing that the press must not lose sight of this larger pattern.

Der neue Golfkrieg | Doku | ARTE

Zwischen 2013 und 2015 fand in den Königshäusern der drei wichtigsten Golfmonarchien ein Generationswechsel statt. Er brachte drei Männer auf den Thron, die zu den reichsten und mächtigsten der Welt gehören. Sie unterdrücken brutal jede Form von Opposition und liefern einander einen geradezu lächerlichen Ego-Krieg, der in der sensiblen Golfregion zu einer neuen Krise führte.

Als erster kam der heute 38-jährige katarische Emir Tamim Al Thani an die Macht. Der begeisterte Hobbysportler kontrolliert die Mediengruppe BeIN, das weltweit größte Übertragungsnetzwerk von Sportereignissen. Dadurch konnte er zum Neid seiner Nachbarn die Fußball-WM 2022 nach Katar holen. Seinen Einfluss macht Emir Tamim Al Thani zudem über den regional bedeutsamen Sender Al Jazeera geltend. Seine Nachbarn beschuldigen ihn, islamistische Gruppierungen zu unterstützen und ein allzu enges Verhältnis zum Iran zu pflegen.Dem katarischen Staatchef stehen zwei Kontrahenten gegenüber: Da ist zum einen der ehrgeizige Kronprinz Saudi-Arabiens, Mohammed Ben Salman (33 Jahre, genannt MBS), der sein Land in einen blutigen Krieg in Jemen verwickelte. Um seinen regionalen Führungsanspruchs zu verwirklichen, sicherte er sich die Unterstützung eines Verbündeten und Mentors: Mohammed Ben Zayed (58 Jahre, genannt MBZ), Kronprinz von Abu Dhabi und Regent der Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate. Der gewiefte Militärstratege rüstete sein kleines Land zur wichtigsten Militärmacht der arabischen Halbinsel auf.Legten ihre Väter und Großväter Streitigkeiten noch in der diskreten Stille der Beduinenzelte bei, tragen die heutigen Herrscher ihre Konflikte mittels Cyberattacken, Wirtschaftsblockaden und Invasionsdrohungen aus.

Boris Johnson’s Braggadocio Will Soon Come Back to Haunt Him at Number 10

THE GUARDIAN: Lusting after the job is entirely different to doing it, and Britain’s next prime minister has made promises he cannot hope to keep

For Theresa May, the worst has been saved for last. After taking her final prime minister’s questions, she will be driven to Buckingham Palace on Wednesday afternoon to perform the most personally disagreeable task of her time at the top. After tendering her resignation, which will be painful enough, she will have the even more hateful duty of recommending that the Queen invites Boris Johnson to become the new prime minister.

Her failings have been a major contributory factor to his ascent. Tory activists think he will deliver them the Brexit that she couldn’t and cheer them up after the torture of the May years. Tory MPs believe that he has the campaign skills to scupper Nigel Farage and squash Jeremy Corbyn. None of which is going to be much use to him in the critical opening weeks of a premiership that will inherit all the problems that defeated Mrs May and with some extra challenges of his own.

He will have to learn how to be prime minister. The schoolboy who wanted to be “world king” has spent many years lusting after the job, but that is entirely different to doing it. Many previous tenants of Number 10 will testify that no other role is an adequate preparation for the demands of the premiership. Tony Blair, a highly accomplished leader of the opposition before he moved into Downing Street, once told me that he didn’t really get the hang of it until he had been doing it for four years and he had the shock absorber of a landslide majority while he was learning on the job. Gordon Brown arrived with a decade as chancellor under his belt, but floundered desperately as prime minister. Boris Johnson has never been in charge of a public service department and was an embarrassment in the one cabinet position that he has held. » | Andrew Rawnsley | Sunday, July 21, 2019

US to Deploy Troops to Saudi Arabia in Face of 'Credible' Regional Threats

THE GUARDIAN: Washington says move will provide ‘an additional deterrent’ in face of ‘emergent’ risks

The United States has authorised the deployment of military personnel and resources to Saudi Arabia, the Pentagon says, to provide “an additional deterrent” in the face of “emergent, credible threats” in the region.

The move, agreed in conjunction with the kingdom, aims to boost regional security as tensions in the Gulf mount over Iran’s standoff with the US over sanctions and the 2015 nuclear agreement, and Tehran’s seizure of two British-linked vessels in the strait of Hormuz on Friday.

Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry confirmed the deployment.

“Based on mutual cooperation between Saudi Arabia and the United States of America, and their desire to enhance everything that could preserve the security of the region and its stability ... King Salman gave his approval to host American forces,” a ministry spokesman was quoted by Saudi state news agency SPA as saying. » | Guardian staff and agencies | Saturday, July 20, 2019

Will Tension in the Gulf Spiral Out of Control? | Inside Story

Iran seizes a UK oil tanker after Britain detained one of its ships.

When the UK seized an Iranian oil tanker two weeks ago, Tehran warned of retaliation. It appears it's carried out that threat.

Iranian Revolutionary Guards detained a British vessel in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday. Tehran said the Stena Impero was involved in an accident with an Iranian fishing boat.

A powerful council that works closely with Iran's Supreme Leader later said the seizure was a retaliatory act. Britain's foreign secretary is worried Iran may be going down a dangerous path. Can compromise be found before the situation spirals out of control?

Presenter: Folly Bah Thibault | Guests: Andreas Krieg - Assistant Professor in the Defence Studies Department at King's College London; Mostafa Khoshcheshm - Iranian political commentator and lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences; Joel Rubin - President of the Washington Strategy Group, a national security consulting firm

Merkel Marks Hitler Assassination Attempt with Anti-extremism Appeal

BBC: German Chancellor Angela Markel has used the 75th anniversary of the most famous plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler to call on citizens to counter rising right-wing extremism.

Ms Merkel thanked the German officer, Claus von Stauffenberg, and other plotters who tried in 1944 to kill the Nazi dictator with a briefcase bomb.

Stauffenberg and some 200 co-conspirators were caught and executed.

Mrs Merkel urged people to join programmes for strengthening democracy.

"This day is a reminder to us, not only of those who acted on July 20, but also of everyone who stood up against Nazi rule," she said in her weekly video podcast.

"We are likewise obliged today to oppose all tendencies that seek to destroy democracy. That includes right-wing extremism." » | BBC | Saturday, July 20, 2019

« Non à Boris, oui à l’Europe », ont scandé des milliers de manifestants anti-Brexit à Londres

LE MONDE: Des opposants au départ du Royaume-Uni de l’Union européenne ont défilé dans la capitale britannique, quelques jours avant la probable désignation de Boris Johnson comme premier ministre.

« Non à Boris, oui à l’Europe ». Voilà Boris Johnson prévenu. Trois jours avant sa probable désignation comme premier ministre, les Britanniques proeuropéens lui ont signifié, samedi 20 juillet dans les rues de Londres, qu’ils n’ont pas baissé la garde. Ce ne fut pas le déferlement spectaculaire, compact et déterminé du 23 mars – un million de manifestants –, mais une sérieuse piqûre de rappel administrée par le noyau dur des anti-Brexit : des gens plutôt militants, plutôt intellectuels, plutôt âgés. Entre Hyde Park et Westminster, ces quelques milliers d’irréductibles Britanniques européens ont conspué dans un même souffle le Brexit et celui qui promet de le mettre en œuvre « coûte que coûte » d’ici au 31 octobre. » | Par Philippe Bernard | samedi 20 juillet 2019

Boris Johnson Is the Epitome of What’s Worst about the English Ruling Class

THE GUARDIAN: In Brussels, people recall an amusing buffoon devoid of principle or political belief – but not a Eurosceptic hardliner

The scene, Cardiff. The date, 16 June 1998. The European summit of heads of state and government has just ended, rounding off the UK’s six-month EU presidency. Tony Blair, who has chaired the summit, is holding a press conference. The EU correspondent for the Daily Telegraph puts up his hand and launches into a tirade that is not so much question as full-blown editorial. Blair, a product of the same public-school system as the questioner, quips: “Boris, you should be prime minister!” Twenty-one years on, this prophecy looks likely to come true.

In Brussels, officials who remember Boris Johnson from his days there (from 1989 to 1994) are dumbfounded. Known to this day as a “buffoon”, he is the source of many painful memories. The son of a former Eurocrat and member of the European parliament, he made a lasting impression as the inventor of the “Euromyth”, a journalistic genre now termed fake news. With the backing of his editors it seems, he eagerly misrepresented events or even completely made up stories to portray the European commission as a bureaucratic monster making absurd proposals. As he once explained to me, aged 28 and dressed as ever in a rumpled jacket, his shirt spilling out in typically English manner: “You mustn’t let facts get in the way of a good story.” Among other yarns, he claimed there were plans to establish a “banana police force” to check the fruit was the right shape, that coffins would be standardised and prawn cocktail crisps would be outlawed. He was quick to highlight the purportedly extravagant lifestyle of overpaid, tax-exempted Eurocrats. » | Jean Quatremer* | Tuesday, July 16, 2019

* Jean Quatremer is Brussels correspondent of Libération

The Guardian View on Boris Johnson: Bad Actor, Dishonest Script

THE GUARDIAN: ‘Boris’ is a stage persona that Britain’s likely next prime minister uses to mask serious character flaws

The most insightful contribution to the Conservative leadership contest was made this week by a smoked fish. That does not reflect well on the human candidates, one of whom brandished a kipper as a prop to facilitate a rhetorical point. Boris Johnson told a hustings audience that “Brussels bureaucrats” had caused distress to a businessman by requiring that shipment of his product be accompanied with an “ice pillow”.

But the kipper told a different story. Its refrigeration was a matter of domestic rules. “The case described by Mr Johnson falls outside the scope of EU legislation,” a European commission official clarified. The prop was only there to set up a pun about “kippers” as former Ukip voters, whose repatriation to the Conservative fold is a promised electoral benefit of Mr Johnson’s candidacy. It was a theatrical flourish to tickle a receptive audience. To that end, facts were immaterial.

Unfashionable though it may be in the Tory party, telling the truth still matters. Especially so when the UK’s EU membership expires in little over three months and Mr Johnson claims, in that time, to be able to enact a deal in Brussels different from the one negotiated by Theresa May. He cannot. A new settlement is not on offer and, even if it were, an extension to the article 50 period would be required to complete it in orderly fashion. As with the smoked fish, Mr Johnson is either lying intentionally or avoiding engagement with facts. Both explanations would be consistent with his character – that word applying in the sense of his temperament but also his stage persona. » | Editorial | Friday, July 19, 2019

Boris Johnson Blimp to Join 9ft Farage on Anti-Brexit March in London

THE GUARDIAN: Pro-Europe grassroots groups to voice opposition to a Johnson premiership

Protesters will take to London’s streets on Saturday for a “No to Boris. Yes to Europe” march days ahead of Boris Johnson’s widely anticipated move into No 10.

A Boris Johnson toddler blimp was launched in Parliament Square at 10am, featuring salmon-pink skin, the politician’s trademark “faux-dishevelled hairstyle”, mismatched running gear and a Brexit-bus T-shirt, according to March for Change.

The singer Billy Bragg and presenter Sandi Toksvig are expected to join the march, which begins at noon in Park Lane and will make its way to Parliament Square.

Tom Brufatto, chair of Britain for Europe, said: “We will not allow Boris Johnson to float into No 10 on a favourable tailwind, or have the summer off, unopposed, after so much hot air on Brexit, with so much at stake.” » | Caroline Davies and Jedidajah Otte | Saturday, July 20, 2019

Iran Seizes British Oil Tanker in Strait of Hormuz