Portugal will listen to new UK govt, priority is to avoid hard Brexit

FILE PHOTO: Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva attends a news conference at Necessidades palace in Lisbon

LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal will listen carefully to Britain's new government under Prime Minister Boris Johnson, but the priority is to avoid a no deal Brexit, Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva said on Wednesday.

"We will listen carefully to what the new British government has to say," Santos Silva told journalists. "But our objective is to avoid a disorderly exit (of Britain from the European Union.)"

Johnson will take office on Wednesday after winning a leadership contest in his party.

(Reporting By Catarina Demony, editing by Axel Bugge)