LONDON, July 10 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US Pres Donald Trump has been “disrespectful” towards the prime minister and the UK, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said.
His comments come after President Trump called Sir Kim Darroch, the UK ambassador to the US, “a very stupid guy” amid a row over leaked emails.
He went on to criticise Theresa May over Brexit, saying she had ignored his advice and gone her “own foolish way”.
On Sunday emails revealed the ambassador had called the Trump administration “clumsy and inept”.
Meanwhile, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox’s scheduled meeting with the US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in the US was cancelled on Tuesday.
Hunt responded to Trump’s latest outburst by tweeting: “Friends speak frankly so I will: These comments are disrespectful and wrong to our prime minister and my country.”
The Tory leadership hopeful added: “Ambassadors are appointed by the UK government and if I become PM our ambassador stays.”
Boris Johnson, the current Tory leadership frontrunner, said: “I have got a good relationship with the White House and I have no embarrassment in saying that.
“The United States is, has been, will be and for the foreseeable future our number one political military friend.”
Earlier, Downing Street reaffirmed its “full support” for Sir Kim.
A spokesman for Theresa May said that Sir Kim is “a dutiful, respected government official” and confirmed there are no plans for May and Trump to hold a call to discuss relations following the leak.
Number 10 previously called the leak, reported in the Mail on Sunday, “unfortunate” and has begun a formal investigation. It said the UK and US still shared a “special and enduring” relationship.
Confidential emails from the UK’s ambassador contained a string of criticisms of Trump and his administration, and said the White House was “uniquely dysfunctional” and divided under his presidency.
Sir Kim, who became ambassador to the US in January 2016 about a year before Trump took office, also questioned whether the White House “will ever look competent” but also warned that the US president should not be written off.
The emails, dating from 2017, said rumours of “infighting and chaos” in the White House were mostly true and policy on sensitive issues such as Iran was “incoherent, chaotic”. — NNN-AGENCIES
