Bold Move or Coup? Social Media Reacts to Boris Johnson – The New York Times

The actor Hugh Grant, using a couple of expletives, responded to Mr. Johnson on Twitter by saying, “You will not destroy the freedoms my grandfather fought two world wars to defend.” Britain, he said, was “revolted.”

Others focused on what they described as Mr. Johnson’s narrow mandate. Under the parliamentary system, Mr. Johnson was elected directly by the governing Conservative party after Prime Minister Theresa May’s resignation. In the party’s July election, 160,000 party members — about 0.3 percent of registered British voters — decided on the leader.

Alastair Campbell, who worked as the press secretary for former Prime Minister Tony Blair, highlighted the disparity — and cast the moment as an “Old Etonian” insider’s game, referring to the elite school Eton College, which Mr. Johnson attended.