PARIS: The Brexit-supporting father of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has acquired French citizenship after making an application last year, a French justice ministry source told AFP on Thursday.

A Conservative who once worked for the European Commission in Brussels, Stanley Johnson opposed Brexit at first but swung behind the EU departure project following 2016’s narrow referendum vote that was championed by his son.

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The elder Johnson’s ties to France are through his French mother, and he speaks the language fluently. The 81-year-old filed his citizenship application at the French consulate in London in November last year, with a six-month deadline for the justice ministry to object elapsing on Wednesday.