PM’s fulsome praise for Trump revealed
BORIS JOHNSON privately told US diplomats that Donald Trump was “making America great again”, according to a cache of official notes taken during high-level UK-US meetings whose details have leaked to The Sunday Telegraph.
Mr Johnson is quoted telling the US ambassador to Britain in August 2017, when the current Prime Minister was foreign secretary, that Mr Trump was doing “fantastic stuff ” on foreign policy issues such as China, Syria and North Korea. Other records from the cache show Mr Johnson claimed the US president was becoming “increasingly popular” in Britain in 2017.
He also spoke warmly about how under his leadership America was “back and engaged in the world”.
Mr Johnson’s praise for Mr Trump in private goes much further than he usually does in public and is eye-catching given that polls consistently show a majority of the British people disapprove of the US president.
Its disclosure could see the Prime Minister get dragged into the US election campaign, with the president eager to tout overseas support and Democratic nominee Joe Biden already on-record once calling Mr Johnson a Trump “clone”.
The contemporaneous notes were taken by US officials during seven meetings and calls involving either the leader or top foreign minister of Britain or America.
Additionally this newspaper has spoken to more than 20 people who saw the UK-US relationship up close under Mr Trump, including from senior posts in the White House, Downing Street, Foreign Office and State Department.
Taken together they paint one of the most detailed pictures to date of how strained the “special relationship” has been behind closed doors during Mr
Trump’s first term in the White House. It can also be reported:
Mr Trump pushed back hard on Theresa May’s pleas to expel Russian diplomats after the Skripal poisoning;
The US president wondered why there was so much “hatred” in Northern Ireland and asked Mrs May why Mr Johnson was not prime minister;
Mr Johnson built close working relationships with Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, and adviser Stephen Miller;
The president was at times “hectoring” towards Mrs May in “nightmare” phone calls and would ask other world leaders what they thought of her;
Mr Trump cancelled his planned first visit to Britain as president at the last minute over the schedule and scrapped a call with Mrs May due to a foreign policy clash.
‘Mr Trump was at times “hectoring” towards Mrs May in “nightmare” phone calls and would ask other leaders what they thought of her’
While Mr Trump’s personal relationship with Mrs May was strained at times, he has developed a warmer bond with Mr Johnson, who he has called a friend and “Britain Trump”.
One meeting described in the notes saw Mr Johnson meet Woody Johnson, the then newly appointed US ambassador to Britain, in the Foreign Office on Aug 29 2017.
“America is back under Trump”, Mr Johnson is quoted saying at one point. At another he said “we’ll solve problems together”, adding: “The president is making America great again.”
Approached for comment, a No 10 spokesman said: “The Prime Minister is committed to the extremely important relationship between the UK and US and to enhancing the work we do together to ensure the prosperity and security of our citizens.” The White House declined to comment.