As a member of Theresa May's government, Johnson was appointed Foreign Secretary on 13 July 2016, shortly after May became prime minister following the resignation of David Cameron.

[1][2] Johnson's appointment ensured he would often be out of the country and unable to organise and mobilise backbenchers against her, while forcing him to take responsibility for problems caused by withdrawing from the EU.

Notable events of his tenure included the response to the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, the imprisonment of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and support for the Saudi Arabian–led intervention in Yemen.

After Theresa May became leader of the Conservative and Prime Minister, Johnson was appointed as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on 13 July 2016.

[8] A senior official in the US government suggested that Johnson's appointment would push the US further towards ties with Germany at the expense of the Special Relationship with the UK.

[21] Johnson pledged to help Turkey join the European Union in "any way possible" and expressed Britain’s continued support for the elected Turkish Government.

"[30] In August 2017, Rachel Sylvester reported in The Times that Johnson was ineffective and incoherent on major issues like North Korea and Qatar whilst on Brexit, he appeared to have no idea of what was required.

[31] This follows a Today programme interview in June on the Queens speech where, asked about the Government's answer to the "burning injustices," highlighted by Theresa May when she became prime minister, he showed a lack of understanding of the issues sufficiently serious to require prompting by Eddie Mair.

[32] In an op-ed published in The Daily Telegraph in September 2017, Johnson reiterated that the UK would regain control of £350m a week after Brexit saying it would be fine thing if much of the money went on the NHS.

[36] Immediately ahead of the party conference, noting a second Johnson speech setting out terms for Brexit even before determination by the Cabinet, Ruth Davidson called for "serious people" to take over his role, criticised his overoptimism and predicted that Britain would “look very much like it looks now” after the transitional period.

28 February 2018 he turned again stating he would publish his 18-page letter in full online as he recommitted to ruling out a hard border after Britain left the EU.

Fletcher wrote that a senior European diplomat based in London said that Johnson was "not taken seriously as a foreign policy actor" and was damaging British interests.

"[45] On 1 November 2017, Johnson told the Foreign Affairs Select Committee that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British citizen serving a 5 year prison sentence in Iran after being arrested on holiday on suspicion of training BBC Persian employees, had been "simply teaching people journalism".

[52] On 20 March 2018, Johnson said in an interview with Deutsche Welle that scientists from the Porton Down laboratory were “absolutely categorical” about the Russian origin of the substance used.

"[53] On 3 April 2018, Gary Aitkenhead, the chief executive of the Government's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) at Porton Down responsible for testing the substance involved in the case, said that they had been unable to verify the "precise source" of the Novichok nerve agent.

"[62] In June 2018, Johnson praised the North Korea–United States summit, tweeting "Welcome the news that President Trump and Kim Jong Un have held constructive talks in Singapore.

"[63] In June 2018, while attending an event for EU diplomats in London, Johnson was reported to have been asked about corporate concerns over a so-called hard Brexit.