Let Farage deal with the Donald

DONALD Trump would not be our first choice for US President. Quite possibly he wouldn’t be yours either.

But that’s what he is going to be and we must do business with him.

Theresa May doesn’t quite get this. To add to the pig’s ear she’s making of Brexit is the dog’s dinner of Anglo-American relations.

Unwilling to believe a maverick like Trump could win the White House, the British political establishment ridiculed him.

They’re laughing on the other side of their faces now. No wonder Trump doesn’t want to be matey with them.

This is where Nigel Farage comes in. He has a rapport with Trump which is more than Mrs May or her ministers can claim.

Farage and Trump are cut from the same political cloth. That alone is enough to disbar the Ukipper from serving as our ambassador in Washington.

But to dismiss his services out of hand is as small-minded and as contrary to the national interest as Farage says it is.

Four million people voted for his party, UKIP. And it is only because of our electoral system that he is not a major power player.

Had the last general election been held under proportional representation, Mr Farage would be leading 82 MPs.

There is now a part he can play in the new world order which still keeps him at arm’s length from Her Majesty’s Government.

The Ukipper could be a bridge to link Washington, London and Brussels. Even if he acted as no more than messenger boy, that in itself would be useful.

If he were able to pull off a post-Brexit transatlantic trade deal so much the better. If he didn’t we would be no worse off than we are now.

The statesmanlike thing to do, Mrs May, is accept there’s a new politics abroad, let Mr Farage serve in an unofficial capacity, and cut him loose.

The interim UKIP leader would not be our first choice as White House go-between. Quite possibly he wouldn’t be yours either.

But in the topsy-turvy world we now live in he’s the best option we’ve got.