SOUNDBITE (English) Boris Johnson, British Foreign Secretary: “Clearly, as I have been saying repeatedly over the last few weeks, on our relations with the European Union, we have to give effect to the will of the people, but that does not mean in any sense leaving Europe, that would be - ‘Europe’, that word properly understood - that would be geographically, historically, culturally, intellectually, emotionally impossible. After we have completed our extrication from the treaties of the European Union, after the negotiations, what I want to see, and I believe on this you and I are at one, John (addressing US Secretary of State John Kerry), is more Britain abroad, more of the UK presence on the world stage.” SOUNDBITE (English) John Kerry, US Secretary of State: “I have returned to London today to reaffirm ourselves, the special and unbreakable ties between the United States and the United Kingdom. And these are more than words, folks, I don’t want to just say them, they are not just words of diplomacy, they really aren’t. This is a genuine expression of a feeling of friendship and it is built up over years and years of common sacrifice, common endeavour, common interest, common values that have been shared consistently between us. I think that it is clear that no shift in administrations, and I am speaking for us either, in either of our countries, is going to alter or undermine the bonds that we have.” SOUNDBITE (English) John Kerry, US Secretary of State: “So the fact is that the United States of America depends on a strong United Kingdom. We mean united. And it depends also on an engaged United Kingdom, there is occasion after occasion in my tenure as Secretary of State where the presence of the United Kingdom and the involvement of your Foreign Secretary - whether it was William Hague with whom I first began, or whether it was then Philip Hammond - we have consistently been able to work together to do things that have made a difference to the safety of people on this planet. And that is particularly pronounced in the Iran nuclear agreement and in the climate change agreement we reached in Paris. As I said in Brussels, we also depend on a close relationship with the European Union. And as Britain and the EU begin negotiating the new terms of their partnership, America is rooting for and will do all we can to try to encourage and assist in the development of the smoothest possible transition and a highly integrated and collaborative UK-EU relationship.”