Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson has been the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs from July 2016 to July 2018. Given his role, he has been in charge of directing the Foreign Affairs Office and giving strategic policy directions during his mandate. Boris Johnson has been appointed Prime Minister in July 2019. Under Boris Johnson, the UK government ordered its officials to stop attending most EU meetings as of 1 September 2019 to focus efforts elsewhere and prepare for Brexit. Therefore, British officials only attended EU level meetings where the UK had a significant national interest such as security, international relations and Brexit (See UK, “Reduced participation ahead of Brexit”). It is reasonable to assume that, in the capacity of Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Boris Johnson attended the meetings of the European Council during his mandate, and was therefore implicated in the decisions and implementations of activities carried out through Operation Sophia’s mandate.