Trump’s new pair of ‘hawks’ stoke fears of UK-US split

Ministers privately express concern over president’s appointment of hardliners in key foreign policy roles

THE Government fears a rift with the US over the Iran nuclear deal after the appointment of two hardline advisers, The Daily Telegraph has learnt.

Senior figures have privately expressed concern over the “uncompromising” John Bolton and “tubthumping” Mike Pompeo, Donald Trump’s new national security adviser and secretary of state respectively.

They feared that the pair – replacing figures known to have pushed back on some of Mr Trump’s campaign policy positions – will indulge the president’s “worst instincts”, and are described as being stuck in a “neo-conservative time warp”.

British ministers especially fear a change on the Iran nuclear deal, which the UK supports and Mr Trump has, so far, declined to scrap despite holding it in very low regard.

The concerns come at perhaps the most uncertain time in UK-US foreign policy relations since the chaotic early weeks of Mr Trump’s presidency.

Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, who built up a close working relationship with Rex Tillerson when he was secretary of state, has to start afresh with Mr Pompeo.

A new CIA director and White House national security adviser means British intelligence services also need to build new relationships.

Mr Bolton, a former UN ambassador under George W Bush, and Mr Pompeo, who was CIA director, will both take up their new posts early next month.

Mr Bolton is known for his hawkish foreign policy views, recently saying a pre-emptive strike on North Korea was legitimate, while Mr Pompeo, a former tank commander, has been described as a “darling” of the Right-wing Tea Party movement. Senior UK Government figures who regularly deal with the US administration voiced concern about the appointments to this newspaper.

One minister said of Mr Bolton: “He is locked in a bit of a neo-conservative time warp, which is likely to find good footing with the current president.

“I worry that his very, very ardent and uncompromising approach to the world, a binary approach, is going to be a problem.”

The minister called Mr Pompeo “pretty tub-thumping” and added: “I just worry it will reinforce the president’s worst instincts rather than temper them.”

Another minister said of Mr Bolton that he “has a track record of being hardline on Iran” and claimed that Mr Bolton had “scuppered a deal” on Tehran’s

‘[He’s] pretty tub-thumping, I worry it will reinforce the president’s worst instincts rather than temper them’

nuclear programme in the past. The minister also expressed concern over Gina Haspel, Mr Trump’s choice for the next CIA director.

She is facing a political backlash because of her past involvement in the agency’s “enhanced interrogation” programme, seen as torture by critics.

Theresa May’s Government already has a number of policy differences with Mr Trump that have played out since the latter took office in January 2017.

Britain opposed America’s departure from the Paris climate change agreement and believes in the Iran nuclear deal, which Mr Trump has called “the worst deal ever”.

The UK also opposed Mr Trump’s 25 per cent steel tariff – it has been granted a temporary exemption – and is critical of considering military avenues to solve the North Korea nuclear impasse.

Mr Trump has also not yet taken up the offer of a UK state visit, delivered more than a year ago. October is the earliest he is expected to come.