Boris Johnson has joked that a traditional Maori greeting could be misinterpreted as a headbutt during a visit to the South Pacific nation.
The Foreign Secretary is visiting New Zealand for two days as Britain looks to strengthen its ties with the former colony amid a broader reshaping of its global relationships as it prepares to leave the European Union.
On Monday, Mr Johnson visited the South Island town of Kaikoura, which was struck by a magnitude-7.8 earthquake in November that killed two people.
Mr Johnson thanked townsfolk for looking after tourists following the quake and for teaching him a Maori greeting called a hongi, in which people press noses together.
Kia Ora ???????? ! Welcomed to #Kaikoura by Maori elder Brett on my first visit to one of Britain's very closest partners pic.twitter.com/vnbEiEXsSB
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) July 24, 2017
Referring to a headbutt, Mr Johnson joked the hongi “might be misinterpreted in a pub in Glasgow”.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel