I'm joined by Nils Schmid, who is a foreign policy expert with the SPD,
with the Social Democrats here at the German parliament. Now, Mr. Schmid,
what is your reaction to Boris Johnson resigning as British prime minister?
First of all, this is very good news for British democracy. After all, this opens the
opportunity for the Conservative Party to return to serious politics for the UK. And at the same
time I hope for a better relationship between the UK and the European Union in the future.
And what would it take? What kind of a new leader would it take for Britain and
for relations between the UK and the European Union to improve?
I think we need a fundamental shift in the attitude of the Conservative Party vis a vis
the European Union. For too long the EU has been considered as the main scapegoat
for all the evil that has been brought about, brought upon Great Britain.
And I think that a closer EU, UK relationship can offer
many opportunities for improving the living standards of the average Briton as well.
And when you look at the people who are currently being discussed as potential new leaders,
are there hopes that this will improve? Or does Britain need a complete fresh start?
Well, first, a fresh start can only be can only come from the Labour Party. Of course we are
hopeful that our sister party can win the next general election, but for the time being very
much depends on the personality of the next Prime Minister. Is it another hard Brexit here, or is it
rather a sort of neo liberal Thatcherite, Thatcherite that might that is interested
in a rational and sober relationship with the European Union and its single market?
Okay, but if we talk about Labour and your sister party,
there is still not the impression that we're getting here that they would
change anything about the pro-Brexit stance that Boris Johnson's government stood for.
That's right. After all, Brexit found a lot of found a majority at the referendum. So we have to
respect that. But I think the British government, any British government should have a more
sober, a more rational attitude towards the European Union. And I think that Labour
is ready to get Brexit done without giving up on a working relationship
with the European Union. And questions like the future of the Northern Ireland Protocol
can be solved on that basis in a much better way than we could have done with Boris Johnson.
And how much damage has Boris Johnson done to the relations between let's take the UK and Germany?
Very open. I must say that he has been regarded as a clown. And so
I think we need some serious and honest politics to get back to Whitehall and Downing Street,
number ten. And I believe that a new Prime Minister should not regard Great Britain as
an island, some our offshore in the Indo-Pacific. After all, great Britain is part of Europe. And
the war in Ukraine, Russia's aggression against Ukraine has demonstrated to us how important
it is to have a close security cooperation between the UK and the European Union. Now talk.