The moment BJ joins the government , he declares himself in agreement at least partially with the positions of the said government otherwise a government can commit crimes and no minister would be responsible , because it was the government who did it , not individual ministers . Indeed , and it is understood that ministers represent the government view , they are responsible for what they do . Which is exactly what Boris is doing now . By joining this government , it is BJ ' s view that Turkey should join the EU . Otherwise he would have not joined this government . Indeed . This is the government view , which Boris is now representing and he is in agreement with sufficiently that he feels able to be a minister . That ' s broadly what I said before he is currently presenting a government position , previously he was presenting a campaign groups position . He can ' t present a different view from the governments even if he wanted to as a minister without resigning , which should be obvious to everyone involved , hence the rather silly notion that it is surprising or somehow odd that he ' d be taking this line .