• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Trump renews attack on UK ambassador Kim Darroch

Trump renews attack on UK ambassador Kim Darroch

Donald Trump has renewed his attack on Britain’s ambassador to Washington, Kim Darroch, calling him “wacky”, “a very stupid guy”, and “a pompous fool” foisted on the US by the UK.

The US president also stepped up his criticism of how Theresa May has handled Brexit, which he described as a failed negotiation. He tweeted: “She went her own foolish way — was unable to get it done. A disaster!”

The latest salvo of tweets from Mr Trump on Tuesday will heap further pressure on the British government, which is struggling to calm an extraordinary diplomatic stand-off after Mr Trump said the US would “no longer deal” with Sir Kim.

Mrs May told her cabinet on Tuesday morning that her US ambassador retained her full support, with the diplomatic leaks discussed in Number 10 for about 10 minutes at the start of the weekly meeting of her top team.

Sir Kim, whose diplomatic cables describing the “inept” and “dysfunctional” Trump administration were leaked to the Mail on Sunday, was due to attend the White House on Tuesday. It is not yet clear whether he will be allowed in. The ambassador was planning to accompany trade secretary Liam Fox to a meeting with Mr Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, at which the minister hoped to calm the row.

Sir Kim has already been blocked from one function: the White House immediately followed through on Mr Trump’s warning by disinviting him from a dinner with the Emir of Qatar on Monday night, at which the US president was in attendance.

Mr Trump’s attack on Sir Kim has thrown down a challenge to Mrs May and whoever succeeds her as prime minister later this month. The US president has previously said that Brexit party leader Nigel Farage would make a good ambassador.

Christopher Meyer, a former British ambassador to the US, told the BBC that much now depended on whether Mr Trump tried to block all access by Sir Kim to US officials, including top senior officials, or whether the row subsided over the summer.

Senior Conservatives said Britain could not “bow down” to Mr Trump, and the new prime minister will be under pressure to allow Sir Kim to conclude his term in Washington, which is due to expire in January 2020.

Allies of Boris Johnson, the frontrunner to be the next prime minister, have indicated that Sir Kim is likely to be succeeded by Mark Sedwill, cabinet secretary, in 2020. They said talk of Mr Farage being sent to Washington was “complete rubbish”.

Any move by a new prime minister to replace a seasoned diplomat with a political appointment would be seen as a hammer blow to Britain’s independent civil service, which has already been dragged into the political arena because of Brexit.

William Hague, former foreign secretary, said the new British prime minister should stand by Sir Kim. “You can’t change an ambassador at the demand of a host country,” he told the BBC’s Today programme.

On Monday night Mr Trump said in a tweet: “I do not know the ambassador, but he is not liked or well-thought of within the US.”

He also struck out at outgoing prime minister Theresa May for her handling of Brexit, accusing her and “her representatives” of creating “a mess” and not taking his advice.

“The good news for the wonderful United Kingdom is that they will soon have a new prime minister,” said Mr Trump. “While I thoroughly enjoyed the magnificent state visit last month, it was the Queen who I was most impressed with!”

A British government spokesperson said on Monday night: “We have made clear to the US how unfortunate this leak is. The selective extracts leaked do not reflect the closeness of, and the esteem in which we hold, the relationship.

“At the same time we have also underlined the importance of ambassadors being able to provide honest, unvarnished assessments of the politics in their country.

“Sir Kim Darroch continues to have the prime minister’s full support. The UK has a special and enduring relationship with the US based on our long history and commitment to shared values and that will continue to be the case.”

Theresa May repeated that message to her cabinet on Tuesday morning, with the diplomatic leaks discussed in Number 10 for about 10 minutes at the start of the weekly meeting of her top team.

Although Mr Trump claims to be unfamiliar with Sir Kim, several top Trump officials have been dinner guests of the ambassador, including the president’s close adviser Kellyanne Conway, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders. Sir Kim also reportedly meets frequently with US national security adviser John Bolton.

Alan Duncan, Foreign Office minister, told MPs on Monday that the Cabinet Office would lead a cross-government inquiry to find the person responsible for handing over the cables to the Mail on Sunday. “If evidence of criminality is found then the police could be involved,” said Sir Alan.

Senior government officials confirmed that the inquiry would seek to establish if there had been a breach of the Official Secrets Act.

Sir Kim is a former British ambassador to the EU and is viewed by some Tories as hostile to Mr Trump and part of a pro-Europe establishment that is trying to thwart Brexit.

Bill Cash, a veteran Eurosceptic Conservative, said Sir Kim’s “toxic” comments were unjustified and based on “personal prejudice”, adding he should be removed from his post because of a “lack of judgment”.

But Sir Alan said Sir Bill’s comments were “deeply unworthy” and that the ambassador, who helped to oversee Mr Trump’s successful recent state visit to Britain, had provided “reporting of the highest quality”.