Controversy over the UK's new PM: Is Boris Johnson really "Britain Trump"?
Donald Trump has praised the United Kingdom’s new Prime Minister Boris Johnson, describing the new leader of the Conservative Party as “Britain Trump”.
“He’s tough and he’s smart,” Trump said of Johnson. “They call him ‘Britain Trump’, and it’s people saying that’s a good thing. They like me over there. That’s what they wanted.”
The similarities between the two leaders have often been pointed out – nationalist sentiments, disdain towards Europe, a pledge to bring their country back to the ‘good old days’, colourful personal life and unkempt blonde hair are some of the things they appear to share.
However, there are important differences between the American and the Brit.
Unlike Trump, Johnson is a supporter of the Paris Climate Accord, the Iran nuclear deal and government-run healthcare system.
Trump thrives on racist rhetoric and harsh immigration policy, but Johnson is more open and liberal, having advocated for amnesty for illegal immigrants as well as an Australian-style points-based immigration system. While Johnson once described burqas as “oppressive”, “ridiculous” and making people “look like letterboxes”, he did so in the context of arguing against a ban on the Muslim attire.
Johnson has also taken aim at Trump in the past, calling him “unfit to hold the office of president of the United States” and “clearly out of his mind” for proposing a travel ban on Muslims during the American’s presidential campaign in December 2015.
More recently, Johnson condemned Trump after the US president called on four congresswomen – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley and Ilhan Omar – to “go back”, even though three of them were born in the US.
“If you are the leader of a great, multi-racial, multi-cultural society, you simply cannot use that kind of language about sending people back to where they came from,” Johnson said in a debate earlier this month. “That went out decades and decades ago and thank heavens for that.”
Johnson has also been open about his family ties to Islam. His paternal great-grandfather was Ali Kemal, a Turkish journalist and politician. Kemal’s son, or Johnson’s grandfather, changed his last name to Johnson during the first World War.