Theresa can ‘hardly get a word in edgeways whenever she is on the phone to Trump’
THERESA May can barely get a word d in during phone conversations with h Donald Trump – with the President t interrupting her every five seconds, , government insiders have claimed.
They said that Mrs May finds it ‘impossible - to make headway and get her r points across’.
An insider added that Mr Trump ‘totally y dominates the discussion, leaving the Prime Minister with five or ten seconds to speak before he interrupts and launches into o another monologue’.
The dramatic claims about Mrs May y and Mr Trump’s relationship were revealed last night by Bloomberg News in a report citing senior current and former government - officials.
However, on a positive note, Mr Trump is said to have recently told Mrs May that she could ‘one day’ be the greatest Briton since e Winston Churchill.
The Daily Mail understands Mr Trump has seen the film Darkest Hour – starring Gary Oldman – and expressed surprise during r- a call to Mrs May that Churchill had d been kicked out of office after the war.
Mrs May pointed out that he had been reelected - in 1951 – and said a poll from the e early 2000s had suggested the public saw w him as the greatest ever Briton.
Mr Trump then replied ‘That could be you u one day’.
Last night Downing Street insiders dismissed - Bloomberg’s reports about the pair’s s phone calls, insisting the leaders’ exchanges s are ‘more equal’ than suggested.
It comes as the pair are due to meet at the World Economic Forum in Davos today – at which Mr Trump is expected to formally offer his first invitation of a state visit to French president Emmanuel Macron.
This would be a marked snub to the UK, which is traditionally offered the first state visit to the US of each new presidency.
The reports serve to further highlight the somewhat fraught relationship between the two leaders, following on from months of chaos over a possible state visit by Mr Trump.
Downing Street had hoped that Britain’s controversial invitation to Mr Trump a year ago would strengthen the ‘special relationship’ post-Brexit, but insiders have claimed that officials admit it has instead proved to be a ‘nightmare’. In one phone conversation last year, Mr Trump reportedly complained to Mrs May about the criticism he had received from the British public and press. Amid threats he would face protests if he came to the UK, he told her ‘he would not be coming to the UK until she could promise him a warm welcome’. According
Mto the report, Mrs May’s advisers listened in to the call ‘in astonishment at Trump’s d demand’.
Mrs May reportedly told him that ‘such tr treatment was simply the way the British p press operate, and there wasn’t much she co could do’. With suspicions he will never take up the offer, some in her team now regret th their decision to invite him, said Bloomberg.
Since their first meeting in Washington la last January, Mrs May has repeatedly cl clashed publicly with the President over isM Manchester issues including terror intelligence attack and Mr leaks, Trump’s the co controversial re-tweeting of a British farR Right anti-Muslim activist. British officials ci believe Mr Trump is still angry with D Downing Street, and – as the Mail re revealed – earlier this month he cancelled a trip to London to open the new US em embassy next month.
The two leaders’ relationship is not helped by the fact they have completely opposite personalities, say officials. Katie Perrior, Mrs May’s former communications director,
‘Demanded she secure him a warm welcome’
said senior civil servants wanted Mrs May to keep her distance from the volatile Mr Trump until he had been in office longer – and warned against ‘rushing’ into offering him a state visit. She said it was clear to her and others at the time that such an invitation was ‘over the top and unnecessary’.
However, the then-No 10 chiefs of staff Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill were anxious to strengthen relations with the US and achieve a post-Brexit trade deal by offering a state visit. The pair made a ‘secret trip’ to the US and made arrangements for Mrs May to come to Washington. Mr Trump was delighted, comparing their relationship to the bond between Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and reportedly telling aides: ‘She’ll be my Maggie.’
However, despite No 10’s efforts the pair’s relationship has since cooled.