The Slatest

Please Take a Moment to Watch This Extremely Awkward Boris Johnson–John Kerry Press Conference

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson during a press conference on Tuesday in London.

Kirsty Wigglesworth–WPA Pool/Getty Images

When fallout from the United Kingdom’s Brexit referendum catapulted Theresa May into the role of prime minister last week, her ascension spelled good news for another British politician: former London mayor, journalist, and Donald Trump–Owen Wilson love child Boris Johnson, who May named as her foreign secretary.

But Johnson’s mussed halo was short-lived. His appointment sparked immediate controversy, both for his outspoken criticism of David Cameron, who preceded May as prime minister, and for the long litany of jibes, insults, and lascivious lyric poetry he’s lobbed at foreign leaders, including President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. And now, in his new role as chief diplomat, he will presumably have to interact civilly with the very people and countries he’s offended over the years.

Johnson had a chance to allay concerns about his errant quips at a joint press conference with his U.S. counterpart, Secretary of State John Kerry, at the Foreign Office in London on Tuesday, his first media appearance since May announced his appointment. But then journalist Brad Klapper of the AP asked him a 90-second question about his remarks on President Obama’s “Kenyan heritage” and his likening of Hillary Clinton to “a sadistic nurse in a mental hospital.”

Johnson’s response was pretty awkward.

The foreign secretary’s face goes through a wide spectrum of expressions as Klapper speaks. But perhaps the purest distillation of undisguised emotion came from Kerry himself:

Things didn’t get much better by the time Johnson got a word in.

“Do you take these comments back, or do you want to take them into your new job as some sort of indicator of the type of diplomacy you will practice?” Klapper asked.

“I’m afraid that there is such a rich thesaurus now of things that I’ve said that have been—one way or another, 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,” Johnson said. “I find that virtually everybody I’ve met so far in this job understands that very well, particularly on the international scene.”

Tack that nonapology onto the list of Johnson’s fibs.