US backlash against Johnson’s Huawei decision is just beginning, says Farage
Leader of Brexit Party says Donald Trump’s concerns are real after meeting with president in Washington
AMERICA’S anger at Britain’s Huawei decision is real, and the backlash has only just begun, Nigel Farage has warned after talking to Donald Trump and his senior advisers this week.
Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph after his Washington visit, Mr Farage said there was “genuine” and “growing” concern in Republican circles over letting the Chinese company build the UK 5G network.
Mr Farage said figures on Capitol Hill repeatedly raised the possibility of knock-on implications for UK-US intelligence sharing, suggesting the row Boris Johnson has tried to minimise is not going away. The Brexit Party leader predicted more confrontation to come. “We believe in UK sovereignty. It is our choice to make. But it is, I have to say, one I’m very, very worried about, as I have been all the way through,” he said.
The blunt message emerged as Mr
Farage, one of the most connected British politicians in “Trumpland”, spent much of this week in the American capital for one of the most defining weeks in the 45th US president’s tenure.
Mr Farage was in the audience for Mr Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, in the city for the impeachment acquittal on Wednesday and saw the president just hours after his combative press conference on Thursday.
The pair met for around half an hour in the Oval Office, according to Mr Farage, posing for pictures by the Resolute desk. Mr Farage also saw Mike Pence, the vice-president, and Larry Kudlow, Mr Trump’s top economics adviser.
“Of course he’s upbeat,” Mr Farage said of the president’s mood. Some Republicans who cleared Mr Trump this week had also dubbed his conduct in the Ukraine scandal “wrong”, but there have been no public signs of contrition.
“He’s just had a fantastic week, an amazing week” Mr Farage said. “We’ve had the farce in Iowa, [Nancy] Pelosi demeaning the office of speaker, impeachment ending, an astonishing State of the Union speech … I can assure you, for him, the family, this is a good week.”
Mr Farage’s friendship with Mr Trump dates back to the 2016 campaign, when he gave supportive TV appearances as others abandoned the then Republican nominee after a recording of him bragging about sexually assaulting women emerged.
Mr Farage is always wary of revealing his Trump discussions. That is especially true for Huawei, a subject the president is said to be “apoplectic” with Mr Johnson about, according to the Financial Times.
The president’s official message, Mr Farage says, is “the UK must do what’s right for the UK”. But he leaves the capital in no doubt over the degree of concern. “I have picked up from speaking to some senators and congressmen this week a level of concern that does not appear to be going away. It is a genuine security concern,” he said.
One area where there is no doubt about Mr Trump’s views is towards the Prime Minister. Whatever their policy differences, the president sees Mr Johnson as a “friend”, despite not knowing him well.
Mr Farage reinforced that perception. “No question, he is a fan of Boris,” he said. All three men are Brexit supporters.
Mr Farage said Mr Trump thought the Prime Minister was “saying all the right things” about the post-Brexit future and the chance of a UK-US free trade deal, “particularly about regulatory alignment”.
Before he flew home, Britain announced its new Washington ambassador, a position Mr Trump had publicly suggested should go to Mr Farage in the weeks after his shock 2016 victory.
What does Mr Farage think of the winning candidate, Britain’s United Nations representative Karen Pierce?
“We’ll have to see,” he said, questioning her Brexit credentials. It was not full-throated support.