Johnson travels to NY amid Brexit uncertainty

British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, travelled to New York yesterday to attend the United Nations (UN) General Assembly.  

The PM travelled to the UN at arguably the most extraordinary period in modern British history.

The Supreme Court has just ruled against the government on the issue of Parliament's prorogation, thus deepening Britain's political and constitutional crisis. 

The unanimous ruling by eleven Supreme Court judges is set to vastly complicate Johnson’s plan to leave the European Union (EU) by the scheduled deadline of October 31.

Johnson has made it clear in recent weeks that he is prepared to ignore the law in order to honour the Brexit deadline.

At a speech near Leeds earlier this month, Johnson said he’d rather be “dead in a ditch” than to delay Brexit.

Johnson’s first trip to the UN as PM also coincides with growing controversy and disarray over Britain’s foreign policy.

Last week, the International Trade Secretary, Liz Truss, admitted to breaching a court ruling against the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia that could be used in the War on Yemen.

Despite the court ruling, the British government continues to support the Saudi-led military campaign against Yemen by various means, including the deployment of Special Forces in northern Yemen.

Earlier this year, the Foreign Office Minister, Mark Field, promised to investigate “very serious and well sourced” allegations that Special Air Service (SAS) soldiers have been injured fighting Yemen’s Ansarullah movement.

Just before he left for New York, Johnson underlined Britain’s alliance with Saudi Arabia by blaming Iran for the September 14 attack on Saudi oil installations, without providing any evidence. 

Johnson’s unfounded allegation flies in the face of Ansarullah’s firm claim of responsibility for the attack.

In view of the chaos at home, and the disarray in British foreign policy, Johnson faces an uphill battle in convincing the UN that “Global Britain” (to borrow a phrase from Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab) is anything other than a myth in a post-Brexit world.