In jaw-dropping interview, Donald Trump says Boris Johnson would make ‘great’ UK PM, and Theresa May is wrecking Brexit
Trump’s comments, in which he said PM May’s Brexit plan would kill a US-UK free trade deal, were published as she hosted him on his first presidential visit to Britain
US President Donald Trump lobbed a verbal hand grenade into Theresa May’s carefully constructed plans for Brexit, saying Thursday that the British leader had wrecked the country’s exit from the European Union and likely “killed” chances of a free-trade deal with the United States.
Trump, who is making his first presidential visit to Britain, also told The Sun newspaper that May’s nemesis, the former foreign secretary Boris Johnson, would make a “great” British prime minister.
Trump said he had advised May on how to conduct Brexit negotiations, “but she didn’t listen to me.”
The Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid published an interview with Trump as May was hosting him at a black-tie dinner at Blenheim Palace, birthplace of Britain’s World War II Prime Minister Winston Churchill – the leader who coined the term “special relationship” for the transatlantic bond.
The Sun said the interview was conducted Thursday in Brussels, before Trump travelled to Britain. His remarks on Brexit came the same day May’s government published long-awaited proposals for Britain’s relations with the EU after it leaves the bloc next year.