How the ‘special relationship’ was tested
Detailed notes have given new insight into how the US president forged invaluable friendships with Theresa May and Boris Johnson
IT WAS a trip designed to forge a new friendship. Jetting out to Washington DC just days after Donald Trump’s inauguration, Theresa May was seeking to put past criticism of the new US president behind her and build a strong working relationship.
Becoming the first national leader to be hosted by Mr Trump in the White House was a diplomatic coup, part of a deliberate strategy to get close to the world’s most powerful politician early on and, if possible, shape his thinking.
Now, as the two leaders settled down with a handful of their closest advisers for lunch in the president’s residence on Jan 27 2017, here was a chance to strike up a rapport away from more formal policy discussions.
What followed, according to detailed notes taken by a US official and later shared with others, was a sprawling, unfiltered conversation, which left little doubt about how different President Trump was from his predecessors.
It also foreshadowed the strains that Mr Trump, a property mogul and reality TV star-turned-firebrand politician, would place on the “special relationship” – a consistent theme in notes from seven meetings whose details have been leaked to
The Sunday Telegraph.
Brexit and Tory leadership
“Isn’t this place great? It’s so great,” Mr Trump began, enthusing about his new home as his guests settled in for the meal. “I’ve been to Buckingham Palace before and that’s greater.”
The president got on to defending the size of his inauguration crowd before pushing Mrs May for her views on abortion. But soon he moved on to the topic of the European Union and Brexit. Mr Trump, a longtime EU critic, asked if more member countries would quit the bloc.
“No, I don’t think so and we don’t want them to,” Mrs May is quoted as saying. “It’s better for the EU to stick together but the EU does need reform.”
The president appeared eager to better understand the origins of the referendum. “What about Brexit? Did Cameron make a mistake?” he asked Mrs May, according to the notes.
“Look, it’s Conservative Party politics,” she replied, before telling an adviser to explain that Mr Cameron had felt forced to call a vote because of Tory splits.
“Why isn’t Boris Johnson the prime minister? Didn’t he want the job?” Mr Trump asked, according to the notes, probing about the political career of the man who would ultimately play a part in toppling Mrs May.
When Mrs May explained how the Tory leadership race played out – Mr Johnson withdrew after losing the support of Michael Gove – Mr Trump is quoted as responding: “Oh, so you were drafted like in baseball. But really I think you were plotting this all along.”
Then came a discussion about immigration. “We are going to get tough on immigration,” Mr Trump said, according to the notes. “The Europeans have opened their doors to bad people. We will not have a Paris.” That line appears to reference past terror attacks in the French capital.
“Crime is way up in Germany. Women are getting raped all over the place,” Mr Trump is quoted as saying, singling out Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, for criticism. “Merkel will lose her next election.”
Mrs May disagreed. “No, I don’t think she will. She’s the best politician in Europe right now,” the British leader responded. Later that year Mrs May was proved right. Mrs Merkel was re-elected.
At one point during the lunch Mr Trump wanted to know about Northern Ireland, a key issue in Brexit talks.
“What about Northern Ireland?” Mr Trump asked, according to the leaked notes. “There’s such hatred there. I just don’t understand where it comes from.”
As the lunch neared its end, Russia was discussed, with Mr Trump expressing alarm at an adviser who had not informed him that Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, had called.
Mrs May, a critic of the Russian leader, is quoted as telling Mr Trump: “You have to engage with Putin but beware. He only respects strength. You have to be tough.”
Mr Trump waved away her concerns, according to the notes: “I have to talk to this guy. He has a thousand nukes. This isn’t the Congo.”
The Sunday Telegraph read out the notes to two people who were in the room for the lunch who confirmed their accuracy. A third familiar with the US record of the meeting said likewise.
Skripal poisonings clash
One of the most testing times in UK-US relations under Mr Trump came after Sergei Skripal, the Russian spy who defected to Britain, and his daughter Yulia were poisoned in Salisbury.
Mrs May blamed the Russian government and spent much of March 2018, the month of the attack, rallying Western allies to jointly expel Russian spies in retaliation.
Mrs May was seeking solidarity from the White House over a chemical attack on British soil. But leaked notes from one call between Mr Trump and Mrs May reveal how hard he pushed back.
“We really need your leadership on this”, Mrs May said, according to the notes. “No, I would rather follow than lead,” Mr Trump is quoted responding.
The call was in March, though the exact date is unclear. They talked more than once that month. The president carried on, according to the notes: “Angela [Merkel] is doing nothing. She is feeding the beast. I have done stuff and the EU has to do something. We are paying for their defence.”
One US official who listened told a colleague Mrs May got so frustrated her voice cracked and at two points the person thought she would either “scream or start crying”. But former May aides and White House figures said she never came close to tears in any call with Mr Trump.
Eventually the president agreed to expel 60 Russian diplomats – more than any other country. He was, according to The Washington Post, later infuriated when Germany and France only expelled four each, accusing aides of misleading him.
Eye rolls and cancellations
More than half a dozen people who listened to May-Trump calls spoke to this newspaper. Mr Trump’s tone was at times described as “bullying” and “mansplaining”. He often ignored the agreed topics of discussion, going on long monologues.
Mrs May sometimes sounded “bemused” and exasperated, trying to bring Mr Trump back to the issues at hand. She also stood her ground, sources on both sides say, willing to tell the president he was wrong during policy disagreements.
“It is hectoring, it is relentless, it is forceful, it is difficult to get a word in,” one ex-May adviser who listened in said of Mr Trump’s speaking style on the phone. “She would go, ‘Yes, Donald, Donald, Donald’”, attempting to interrupt. She would sometimes roll her eyes before calls, aides recall.
Mr Trump asked other leaders for their views, according to a former White House official: “He would say to Merkel or Macron about Theresa May ‘Well, what do you think now? She’s blown it with that election.’”
Leaked notes show that on Dec 6 2017 Mr Trump was due to call Mrs May about moving America’s Israeli embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, risking inflaming tensions in the region.
Briefed by advisers beforehand that Mrs May would express opposition to the move, the president abruptly cancelled the call. One US official told a colleague Mr Trump had a “hissy fit”.
The following month the president was getting briefed on an upcoming UK trip and was told he would open the new US embassy, which had moved from central London to south of the Thames. “I don’t want to go,” Mr Trump interjected, according to notes of the Jan 10 2018 meeting. “I hate the new embassy which was a terrible real estate decision. So I will not go and do a ribbon-cutting.” It was another six months before Mr Trump made it to Britain for the first time as president.
Johnson praises Trump
Mr Johnson took a different approach, as underscored by the leaked notes of conversations with Woody Johnson, America’s ambassador in London, Rex Tillerson, then US secretary of state, and Mike Pompeo, his successor.
Away from the more formal channels, Mr Johnson also had success getting close to members of Mr Trump’s inner circle, thereby improving his standing and influence with the US president, according to numerous sources on both sides.
Mr Johnson was one of the first UK government figures to meet Mr Trump’s team after his shock White House victory in November 2016, flying across for meetings in the president-elect’s New York base, Trump Tower, in January 2017.
One influential figure Mr Johnson has had repeated discussions with is Stephen Miller, the US president’s adviser credited with driving his hardline immigration policy agenda.
When Mr Trump announced his so-called “Muslim ban” shortly after taking office, it was Mr Johnson who carved out a British exemption over a frantic weekend that followed. Some UK and US officials believe it came through talks with Mr Miller.
Mr Miller would often see Mr Johnson when he visited. One former White House official recalled Mr Miller describing Mr Johnson as a “friend”, claiming the then foreign secretary had helped him with speeches.
In May 2018, Mr Johnson held a reception at the British ambassador’s residence in Washington DC during a visit. Only around 20 Republican operatives were invited, including Mr Miller, who is aged 35. Mr Miller and Mr Johnson were seen chatting warmly together, discussing plans for Mr Trump’s upcoming trip to Britain. “They were all totally dazzled by him,” said one attendee of Mr Johnson.
Mr Johnson struck up a relationship with Jared Kushner, Mr Trump’s son-in-law and a senior White House adviser credited with influencing the president’s thinking on foreign policy matters, especially the Middle East. Multiple US and UK officials believed the men were in regular text contact.
The connections have allowed Mr Johnson, who once called Mr Trump “unfit” to be president over comments made about London’s safety when he was mayor, to be seen not as a “never Trumper” but a like-minded ally.
“Boris is not Steve Bannon or a Trump ideologist,” one well-placed UK source said. “But Stephen Miller probably thinks that. They believed he was part of their grand world view”. It is a belief still held in the White House.
‘I don’t want to go. I hate the new US embassy which was a a terrible real estate decision. So I will not go and do a ribboncutting’
‘“We really need your leadership on this,” Mrs May said. “No, I would rather follow than lead,” Mr Trump replied’