Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has said he hopes for a big trade deal with Turkey after the UK leaves the European Union.<br /><br /> Johnson met President Erdogan on Tuesday and several other senior figures from his host country, on his first visit to Turkey since his appointment to the post. <br /><br /> He said his lewd poem about the Turkish leader – involving sowing wild oats and a goat – had not come up in conversation.<br /><br /> “Much to my amazement it has not come up at all. Nobody raised such trivia until you did,” he told a reporter.<br /><br /> Johnson wrote the poem earlier this year – before he became Britain’s chief diplomat – after a magazine invited readers to send in rude rhymes about Erdogan in protest at Turkey’s crackdown on free speech. <br /><br /> A senior Turkish official later said Ankara would draw a line under Johnson’s past comments, but said relations would be damaged if he repeated such insults.<br /><br /> But one of the aims of this visit was to build bridges and pave the way for a new relationship with Turkey once the UK leaves the EU.<br /><br /> On Monday he said Britain was happy to be “one of the biggest recipients of Turkish goods”, adding that he was proud to own a “well-functioning Turkish washing machine”.<br /><br /> On Tuesday, as he met his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, Boris Johnson looked to Britain’s post-EU future.<br /><br /> “We can begin the preparatory work for what I hope will be a new jumbo free trade deal between the UK and Turkey,” he told a joint news conference. “We may be disentangling ourselves from the treaties of the European Union, but we are not leaving Europe.”<br /><br /> Johnson, who has Turkish ancestors, has been accused of hypocrisy. On Monday he said Britain would help Turkey’s bid to join the EU in any way possible.<br /><br /> Before the UK’s referendum, the pro-Brexit campaign he jointly led cited possible Turkish EU membership as a threat to security and a reason to leave. The “Vote Leave” claim that “Turkey is joining the EU” – which it said meant that Turkish “criminals” could not be stopped from reaching the UK – was condemned as false and misleading. <br /><br /> This is utter hypocrisy from BorisJohnson https://t.co/7GaAbzFG20— Tim Farron (timfarron) September 27, 2016<br /><br /> Johnson also backed Ankara’s policy on Syria. At the start of his two-day trip the British foreign minister visited a refugee camp near the Turkish border with Syria, and met exiled members of the Syrian opposition. <br /><br /> Heard firsthand at refugee camp in Turkey from victims of #Asad’s appalling regime. UK committed £2.3bn to support those affected by crisis pic.twitter.com/PYzniGZnV5— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) September 26, 2016<br />
