Just what May needs! Now Trump puts the boot into the PM
DONALD Trump deepened Theresa May’s Brexit problems yesterday by saying he was surprised at how badly the negotiations had been handled.
He said the process should have gone smoothly but the Prime Minister ‘didn’t listen’ to him and that he now hated to see Britain being ‘ripped apart’.
The US President also said he thought a second referendum would be ‘unfair’ to those that voted Leave – as he dangled the prospect of a ‘large-scale’ trade deal.
His characteristically undiplomatic intervention came as he sat in the Oval Office with Irish premier Leo Varadkar.
He said he would not comment on Brexit – only to then say: ‘It’s a very complex thing right now, it’s tearing a country apart, it’s actually tearing a lot of countries apart, and it’s a shame it has to be that way but I think we will stay right in our lane.’
Wearing a green shamrock, the President again claimed that Theresa May had ignored his advice on how to handle the talks. She has previously revealed that Mr Trump told her to ‘sue the EU’ and ‘not go into negotiations’. Mr Trump said: ‘I’m surprised at how badly it’s all gone from the standpoint of a negotiation.
‘I gave the Prime Minister my ideas on how to negotiate it and I think [it] would have been successful.
‘She didn’t listen to that and that’s fine – she’s got to do what she’s got to do.
‘I think it could have been negotiated in a different manner, frankly. I hate to see everything being ripped apart now.’
The President, who earlier set out his hopes for a US-UK trade deal, added that ‘I’m not sure anybody knows’ what was happening with Brexit.
On the prospect of another referendum, he said: ‘I don’t think another vote would be possible because it would be very unfair to the people that won... They’d say “What do you mean, you’re going to take another vote”. So that would be tough.
‘I thought it would happen, it did happen, and both sides are very, very cemented in.’
With MPs considering seeking to extend Article 50, the US president said Brexit was likely to be delayed. ‘I think they are probably going to have to do something because right now they are in the midst of a very short period of time – the end of the month – and they are not going to be able to do that.’
Mr Trump said he would like to see the ‘ whole situation with Brexit work out’, adding ‘we are talking with them about trade and we can do a very big trade deal with the UK’.
Turning to Mr Varadkar, he said: ‘Leo, I’m sure you agree on that. Would you like to express your feelings on Brexit? Maybe I shouldn’t let you do it, I’ll just get you in trouble.’
Mr Varadkar replied: ‘We have a different opinion, Mr President. I regret that Brexit’s happening.’
Mr Trump posted an early morning tweet, saying: ‘My Administration looks forward to negotiating a large scale Trade Deal with the United Kingdom. The potential is unlimited!’
His Brexit intervention came after he met former Ukip leader Nigel Farage in Washington this month. It was claimed Mr Farage had allegedly told him to support the UK leaving without a deal.
The dysfunctional nature of the President’s relationship with Mrs May has been well-documented. In November last year, he challenged Mrs May over her Brexit plan during a fractious phone call. During his visit to Britain, last July, he told reporters he thought the Chequers deal would ‘kill’ the chance of a US-UK trade deal. It later emerged he had advised Mrs May to sue Brussels.
He also embarrassed her last summer when he briefed a newspaper that Boris Johnson ‘would make a great prime minister’.
‘I thought it would happen’