Risto E.J. Penttilä

The appointment of Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary was a shrewd political move from Prime Minister Theresa May.

Norway and Finland have included populist politicians in their governments. The results have been encouraging. Once in government both the True Finns and the Norwegian Progress Party have proved to be more pragmatic and serious than most observers would have considered possible before they entered the government.

Could the same formula work in the UK?

Giving Nigel Farage a seat in the government would never have worked. His party has no power base in the parliament.

Boris Johnson is an entirely different matter. His is the leading party in the UK. He was one of the leaders of the populist revolt against the status quo. And, having been a mayor of London, he actually has leadership experience to draw on.

Co-operating with a populist politician is always risky. In the Netherlands, the populists reneged on a deal they had made with the government. Instead of supporting spending cuts as they had promised they forced the country into an early election.

Boris Johnson may end up being a new Geert Wilders, the leader of the Dutch populists who reneged on his promise. Or he may end up being a new Timo Soini, the leader of the True Finns who has thus far been a loyal member of the Finnish government. Or he may become a great foreign minister of a great European power. We do not know.

But we do know that giving him a chance to prove himself is a win-win decision for the new British Prime Minister. If he succeeds, Prime Minister May will be congratulated. If he fails, a new person will fill the post.

George Osborne’s plan to slash the corporate tax rate is the right response to Brexit. The only way for the UK to survive Brexit is to become the most business friendly country in Europe.

Oxford Economics analysed nine different scenarios for Brexit several months before the referendum. Their conclusion was that liberal economic policy combined with liberal trade agreements with the EU and the rest of the world would mean no significant deterioration from the baseline scenario (i.e. what would happen to the British economy without Brexit). All other eight scenarios were worse than the baseline scenario.

Consequently, the first step is to liberalise the British economy further. The second step is to reach a pragmatic trade agreement with the EU.

The only problem is that the EU does not seem very pragmatic at the moment. Quite the contrary. Jean Claude Juncker and Martin Schulz (the heads of the Commission and the Parliament) are hell-bent on teaching the Brits a lesson – even if it means trouble for the entire EU.

Joachim Löw ought to tell Messrs Juncker and Schulz that one should not respond to an opponent’s own goal by kicking the ball in one’s own net. Let’s hope some sanity will return to both sides of the Channel soon.