Rabu, 10 Juli 2019

Kim Darroch, U.K. Ambassador to U.S., Resigns After Leak - The New York Times

LONDON — Kim Darroch submitted his resignation on Wednesday as Britain’s ambassador to the United States, following the leak of his candid observations about the Trump administration and the subsequent fierce criticism of him and the British government from President Trump.

“Since the leak of official documents from this embassy there has been a great deal of speculation surrounding my position and the duration of my remaining term as ambassador,” Mr. Darroch said in his resignation letter. “I want to put an end to that speculation. The current situation is making it impossible for me to carry out my role as I would like.”

“Although my posting is not due to end until the end of this year, I believe in the current circumstances the responsible course is to allow the appointment of a new ambassador,” Mr. Darroch wrote.

On Monday, Mr. Trump said the White House would no longer deal with Mr. Darroch after the leak of confidential emails written by the ambassador that had described the Trump administration as “clumsy and inept.”

Mr. Trump also accused Prime Minister Theresa May of ignoring his advice and mismanaging Britain’s tortured efforts to leave the European Union, a departure now delayed at least until the end of October. As for Mr. Darroch, the president described him as “wacky,” a “very stupid guy,” and a “pompous fool.”

The dispute has cast a shadow over ties between London and Washington and has taken center stage in the contest to succeed Mrs. May as prime minister.

During a TV debate Tuesday night, Boris Johnson, the former foreign secretary and favorite to succeed Mrs. May, refused several opportunities to say that he would keep Mr. Darroch in his post until a scheduled departure date in January. He also declined to criticize Mr. Trump and played down the rift.

His comments probably made Mr. Darroch’s position untenable, given that Mr. Johnson is the clear front-runner in the contest and is likely to become prime minister later this month.

By contrast, the rival candidate, Jeremy Hunt, the current foreign secretary, described Mr. Trump’s comments as “unacceptable” and said that he would keep Mr. Darroch in his job.

Mr. Johnson said on Wednesday that he regretted Mr. Darroch’s departure, and that whoever leaked the ambassador’s messages should be “run down, caught and eviscerated.”

Alan Duncan, a minister in the Foreign Office and a supporter of Mr. Hunt, dismissed Mr. Johnson’s statement as “insincere guff.” By failing to support the ambassador, and attempting to ingratiate himself with Mr. Trump, Mr. Johnson had “thrown Kim Darroch under the bus,” Mr. Duncan told the BBC.

With Mr. Johnson intent on Britain leaving the European Union in October, the “special relationship” with Washington is of particular importance given that Mr. Tump has promised a trade agreement with Britain.

“I think the reality was that in light of the last few days his ability to be effective was probably limited,” Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, said Wednesday morning in Washington. “So it was probably the right course.”

The controversy surrounding Mr. Darroch’s assessments has struck some members of the diplomatic corps in Washington as a broader peril: As one of his fellow European ambassadors put it, there was little in his cables that could not be found in their own.

Mr. Darroch’s candid descriptions of the administration as inept and chaotic, of reversed decisions and a mystifying policymaking process, closely mirror daily news reports and the findings of the slew of books about Mr. Trump’s tenure.

But a senior American diplomat noted, before Mr. Darroch’s resignation was announced, that the publication of the WikiLeaks trove of 250,000 diplomatic cables in 2010 had a similar result, with the resignation of the United States Ambassador to Mexico.

In response to Mr. Darroch’s decision, Mrs. May paid tribute to him in Parliament and said that the whole cabinet had rightly given him its support.

“Good government depends on public servants being able to give full and frank advice. I want all our public servants to have the confidence to be able to do that, and I hope the house will reflect on the importance of defending our values and principles, particularly when they are under pressure,” she said.

Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party, said of Mr. Darroch, “the comments made about him are beyond unfair and wrong.”

During his tenure, Mr. Darroch was a constant whirlwind of intelligence collection, political analysis, and outreach to the administration and Congress. He organized lunches and dinners for the parade of British officials who move through Washington, from trade ministers to the chiefs of the British intelligence agencies.

Because he had served as Britain’s national security adviser, Mr. Darroch had especially close ties to the American national security apparatus, and frequently played a key role in coordination on matters involving Iran, Russia and Brexit.

His parties, especially an annual New Year’s party at the Embassy, which is decorated with art from Britain’s museum collections, were among Washington’s most sought-after social events. They sometimes included Trump administration officials, including Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, the president’s daughter and son-in-law, both of whom are close advisers to the president.

Yet the ambassador’s access to the highest levels of government waned under Mr. Trump. In past administrations, American secretaries of state were often at the British Embassy.

But neither Rex W. Tillerson nor Mike Pompeo dealt as much with Mr. Darroch, and the National Security Council was not as welcoming a place, even to one of Washington’s most crucial ambassadors, as it had been in previous administrations, Democratic and Republican.

The State Department had no immediate comment on Mr. Darroch’s resignation. On Tuesday, the department’s main spokeswoman, Morgan Ortagus, acknowledged that the controversy had implications for Britain’s internal politics.

“There’s clearly an election going on in the United Kingdom,” she said. “We’re going to stay out of that and we will, of course, let the White House speak for the President’s tweets.”

Ms. Ortagus stressed the importance of the relationship between the two nations.

“We have an incredibly special and strategic relationship with the United Kingdom,” she said. “That has gone on for quite a long time and it’s bigger than any individual; it’s bigger than any government. It’s something that has stood the test of time and will continue to do so.”

Simon McDonald, the head civil servant in the British Foreign Office, said he had accepted the resignation “with deep personal regret.”

“Over the last few difficult days you have behaved as you have always behaved over a long and distinguished career, with dignity, professionalism and class. The prime minister, foreign secretary and whole of the public service have stood with you: you were the target of a malicious leak; you were simply doing your job.”

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/10/world/europe/kim-darroch-resigns.html

2019-07-10 12:23:25Z
CAIiEOw-RSVV1Pf2MvFXfBJ99aYqFwgEKg8IACoHCAowjuuKAzCWrzwwt4QY

UK ambassador to US who criticized Trump resigns, British Foreign Office says - Fox News

The British ambassador to the U.S. who criticized President Trump has resigned, the U.K. Foreign Office said Wednesday.

Ambassador Kim Darroch — in documents leaked in recent days — slammed the Trump administration as "diplomatically clumsy and inept," and said he doubted it would become "substantially more normal."

FLASHBACK: TRUMP SAYS US WILL 'NO LONGER DEAL' WITH BRITISH AMBASSADOR AFTER LEAKED ANTI-TRUMP CABLES

In a resignation letter on Wednesday, Darroch said "the current situation is making it impossible for me to carry out my role as I would like."

“Although my posting is not due to end until the end of this year, I believe in the current circumstances the responsible course is to allow the appointment of a new ambassador," he wrote, noting the situation "has brought home to me the depth of friendship and close ties between our two countries."

Darroch said he is "grateful to all those in the U.K. and the U.S., who have offered their support during this difficult few days."

Prime Minister Theresa May said Wednesday it was a "matter of regret" that Darroch resigned.

A day before Darroch's resignation Downing Street said he “continues to have the prime minister's full support,” adding that “we have made clear to the U.S. how unfortunate this leak is” and that “the selective extracts leaked do not reflect the closeness of, and the esteem in which we hold, the relationship.”

UK PM THERESA MAY ANNOUNCES RESIGNATION AMID FURY OVER BREXIT HANDLING

The memos Darroch wrote about the Trump administration were meant for a limited audience. The documents were published in Britain's Mail on Sunday newspaper.

Following the leak, Trump described Darroch as ineffective and said "he has not served the U.K. well."

“I do not know the Ambassador, but he is not liked or well ... thought of within the U.S. We will no longer deal with him,” Trump tweeted.

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Britain's Foreign Office did not challenge the authenticity of the leaked documents, which covered the period of 2017 to the present, and came to Darroch's defense. It called the leak "mischievous behavior" and said the public has expected diplomats to provide honest assessments of the politics in the countries where they're posted.

It's customary for senior British diplomats posted overseas to file straightforward memos to senior ministers and security services analysts back home so political trends and possible threats to British interests could be gauged, but it's unusual for a large number of them to be made public.

Fox News' Gregg Re and Lukas Mikelionis and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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https://www.foxnews.com/world/uk-ambassador-to-us-who-criticized-trump-resigns-british-foreign-office-says

2019-07-10 11:05:17Z
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U.S.-British Relationship Sounding More Testy Than ‘Special’ - The New York Times

LONDON — Tensions in the British-American relationship moved center stage in the prime minister contest Tuesday when the two contenders for the job clashed over President Trump’s visceral attack on the British ambassador to the United States.

The sharp exchanges in a televised debate underscored the strains on ties between the countries at a critical time for Britain, which is near a withdrawal from the European Union, or Brexit. Supporters of that move had hoped to foster closer economic relations with the United States once the British had completed their fraught — and long-delayed — divorce.

The debate comes as Britain’s Conservative Party chooses a new leader, expected to become prime minister this month. The rift with Mr. Trump featured prominently in the broader issue of Brexit during the at times ill-tempered clash.

The American president has laid into the British ambassador, Kim Darroch, over leaked internal documents in which Mr. Darroch offered his colleagues a scathing review of the Trump White House.

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CreditReuters

The president derided the ambassador as “wacky” and “a very stupid guy,” and turned his ire on the current prime minister, Theresa May, when she reaffirmed the British government’s “full support” for Mr. Darroch. Mrs. May, Mr. Trump said, was “foolish.”

At the debate Tuesday, one of the candidates, Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, described Mr. Trump’s comments as “unacceptable.” Brushing aside threats from the American president to freeze the ambassador out of official Washington, Mr. Hunt promised to keep Mr. Darroch in place until his scheduled departure in January — and challenged his rival, Boris Johnson, to do the same.

Mr. Johnson, who is the clear favorite to become the next British prime minister and who appears to have a fan in Mr. Trump, declined to do so. He offered only the mildest criticism of Mr. Trump and played down the dispute, noting his good relations with the White House.

As the strange diplomatic spat heated up, the pound sterling neared a two-year low amid questions about what kind of support a post-Brexit Britain could now expect from this American administration.

Mr. Trump’s ire, and his declaration that he would no longer work with Mr. Darroch, were odd optics for two countries whose famous “special relationship” is supposed to enable them to iron out rare differences behind the scenes.

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CreditAl Drago for The New York Times

For some, the name calling by Mr. Trump raises doubts about predictions by Mr. Johnson and other Brexiteers that Britain will be able to attain a quick and “wonderful” post-Brexit trade deal with the United States, as promised by Mr. Trump.

Nigel Sheinwald, a former British ambassador to Washington, said: “President Trump’s reaction since the leak has only confirmed the accuracy of Kim Darroch’s analysis and description of him. And if the special relationship were working properly, there would be a lot of activity behind the scenes so that Darroch could operate in Washington despite the president’s anger.”

The relationship between the countries, Mr. Sheinwald said, is already under great strain “from Brexit and the policies and personality of the president.”

He added, “And a trade deal will, under any scenario, take a long time and be highly contested.”

The blowup has also put pressure on Mr. Johnson, who has cast himself in the mold of Mr. Trump, to defend the right of Britain to name its own ambassadors — whatever the mood of the White House.

On Tuesday, Mr. Johnson tried to negotiate a delicate path. Though he refused to talk about Mr. Darroch’s future, Mr. Johnson said that, as prime minister, he “alone will decide who takes important politically sensitive jobs such as the U.K. ambassador to the U.S.”

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Boris Johnson is the front-runner to be the next Conservative Party leader and prime minister. The former foreign secretary is a hard-line supporter of Brexit.CreditCreditLeon Neal/Getty Images

At the debate, in a series of sometimes bitter exchanges, the two candidates sparred over a range of issues.

Mr. Hunt challenged Mr. Johnson, saying he would resign as prime minister if he failed to extract Britain from the European Union by Oct. 31, as Mr. Johnson has promised. Mr. Johnson dodged that issue — and then tried to turn the tables, saying he admired Mr. Hunt’s ability “to change his mind.” The reference was to how his opponent had campaigned in 2016 against Brexit, but now supported it.

The rift with Mr. Trump has driven home the point that a Britain outside the European Union will be even more dependent on its relationship with the United States. The pound’s slide reflects those worries. However warm Mr. Trump’s words are for Mr. Johnson and for Brexit, few consider him likely to make significant trade concessions.

And given the vast unpopularity of Mr. Trump with the British public, Mr. Johnson’s embrace of the president could be politically perilous, particularly if he seems to be kowtowing in any way to him, let alone allowing the American leader to dictate British national affairs.

Apart from the battle set off by the leak, many Britons are angry that the embassy documents got out at all, in what might be a violation of the Official Secrets Act. Some lamented what they considered the increasing politicization of the Civil Service.

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CreditAndrew Testa for The New York Times

Others hoped that matters would blow over quickly, given the proximity of the summer holidays.

“It’s a storm in a teacup, even if it’s a big teacup and a pretty big storm,” said Christopher Meyer, a former British ambassador to Washington. “We should take this calmly, we’re almost at the summer break. By Labor Day, I think tempers will have calmed down and a new prime minister can gracefully appoint a new ambassador.”

Still, Mr. Meyer said, “Even extreme Brexiters don’t want to be seen to be dancing to Trump’s tune.”

Some of Mr. Darroch’s confidential diplomatic cables, dating from 2017, were leaked to the British tabloid The Mail on Sunday. In them, he described the Trump Administration as “clumsy and inept” and its Iran policy as incoherent.

The leak is thought to have been made by someone who wants a new ambassador more in line with Mr. Trump. Some think it was aimed less at the immediate victim, Mr. Darroch, than at Mark Sedwill, the cabinet secretary, once widely rumored to be in line to succeed him. Mr. Sedwill is said to have angered some close to Mr. Johnson.

It is also unclear how isolated Mr. Darroch will be. To be uninvited to a dinner or a meeting with Ivanka Trump is not very serious, said Mr. Meyer, the former ambassador. “But if it is to shut him out completely from the National Security Council and the White House staff, that is another thing entirely,” he said.

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CreditSait Serkan Gurbuz/Associated Press

While the spat has cast doubt on how beneficial a trade deal with the United States would really be for Britain, it is unlikely to have much direct impact on the negotiations, if and when they happen, analysts say. The pact would not even begin to be negotiated seriously until next year, and by then Mr. Darroch would be gone.

Trade talks take a long time, said Dmitry Grozoubinski, a consultant and former trade negotiator. “These things move with the inexorable momentum of shipping tankers, and the issues they have to navigate are the size of icebergs.”

Julianne Smith, former deputy national security adviser to Vice President Joseph R. Biden, said this Trump Twitter storm, like many before it, would probably fade.

Years ago, such an ugly episode might have lasting implications for the bilateral relationship, Ms. Smith said, “but in today’s political climate, where leaders like Trump and Boris regularly break protocol and tweet every inner thought, it won’t have much of an impact.”

Even if Mr. Darroch ends up leaving Washington early, she said, “his replacement will be rubbing shoulders with administration officials before we know it.”

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/09/world/europe/brexit-boris-johnson-trump.html

2019-07-10 00:44:29Z
52780329171254

Selasa, 09 Juli 2019

Trump says UK ambassador 'a very stupid guy' - BBC News

The UK's "wacky" ambassador to the US is "a very stupid guy" Donald Trump has said, amid a row over leaked emails.

This came after Downing Street reaffirmed its "full support" for Sir Kim Darroch.

On Sunday emails revealed the ambassador had called the Trump administration "clumsy and inept".

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Mr Trump's comments were "disrespectful and wrong to our Prime Minister and my country."

In a tweet to Mr Trump, the Tory leadership hopeful added: "Ambassadors are appointed by the UK government and if I become PM our Ambassador stays."

Boris Johnson, the current Tory leadership frontrunner, also waded into the row.

He said: "I have got a good relationship with the White House and I have no embarrassment in saying that."

"I think it's very important that we have a strong relationship with our most important ally.

"The United States is, has been, will be and for the foreseeable future our number one political military friend."

A spokesman for Theresa May said that Sir Kim is "a dutiful, respected government official" and confirmed there are no plans for Mrs May and Mr Trump to hold a call to discuss relations following the leak.

Sir Kim will now no longer meet the president's daughter Ivanka Trump as scheduled on Tuesday, the BBC has been told.

The Prime Minister's spokesman added: "He isn't attending the meeting but he is supporting Liam Fox in other ways on his trip."

Earlier on Tuesday Mr Trump tweeted: "The wacky Ambassador that the U.K. foisted upon the United States is not someone we are thrilled with, a very stupid guy.

"He should speak to his country, and Prime Minister May, about their failed Brexit negotiation, and not be upset with my criticism of how badly it was handled.

"I told @theresa_may how to do that deal, but she went her own foolish way-was unable to get it done. A disaster!

"I don't know the Ambassador but have been told he is a pompous fool. Tell him the USA now has the best Economy & Military anywhere in the World, by far...and they are both only getting bigger, better and stronger...Thank you, Mr. President!"

Number 10 previously called the leak "unfortunate" and has begun a formal investigation. It said the UK and US still shared a "special and enduring" relationship.

Sir Kim was scheduled to visit the White House alongside International Trade Secretary Liam Fox on Tuesday, but will not now be attending, the BBC's Nick Bryant says.

Confidential emails from the UK's ambassador, leaked to the Mail on Sunday, contained a string of criticisms of Mr Trump and his administration, and said the White House was "uniquely dysfunctional" and divided under his presidency.

Sir Kim, who became ambassador to the US in January 2016 about a year before Mr Trump took office, questioned whether this White House "will ever look competent" but also warned that the US president should not be written off.

The emails, dating from 2017, said rumours of "infighting and chaos" in the White House were mostly true and policy on sensitive issues such as Iran was "incoherent, chaotic".

Speaking on Monday following Mr Trump's initial comments on the leaked emails, Downing Street said the prime minister did not agree with Sir Kim's assessment but had "full faith" in him.

On Tuesday morning, before the president's latest comments, a Downing Street spokesman said: "We have made clear to the US how unfortunate this leak is. The selective extracts leaked do not reflect the closeness of, and the esteem in which we hold, the relationship."

But he said ambassadors needed to be able to provide honest assessments of the politics in their country, and the prime minister stood by Sir Kim.

"The UK has a special and enduring relationship with the US based on our long history and commitment to shared values and that will continue to be the case," he said.

Conservative leadership contender and former foreign secretary Boris Johnson said he had a "good relationship" with the White House.

"I think it's very important that we have a strong relationship with our most important ally", he said.

"The United States has been, will be for the foreseeable future, our number one political military friend and partner and we're going to continue to stress the vital importance of that relationship."

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https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-48921243

2019-07-09 17:36:05Z
CBMiJGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jb20vbmV3cy91ay00ODkyMTI0M9IBKGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jb20vbmV3cy9hbXAvdWstNDg5MjEyNDM

Trump tweets likely deal UK ambassador a fatal blow - CNN

With a devastating set of tweets that all but declared Ambassador Sir Kim Darroch persona-non-grata, the President did more than simply feed a personal grudge. He turned Britain's extreme discomfort into political leverage over America's best friend.
By making it clear he would prefer an envoy more sympathetic to his worldview, Trump is effectively trying to make it more difficult for another country to get accurate diplomatic reporting and internal intelligence on an administration that has alarmed many foreign allies -- not just Britain.
Trump could have turned the other cheek and sought the high ground amid the rumpus over the UK ambassador's unsparing memos about his character and dysfunctional White House.
That is not the President's way.
Where other US leaders might have chosen a less contentious route, Trump seeks to escalate, indulging his ruthless sense of another party's weakness.
In lashing out at the British government and its envoy, Trump showed familiar traits — he's thin skinned and reacts poorly to public criticism -- even when it comes from a country and a government he's often rebuked himself. And he rarely lets pass a chance for revenge.
Trump's tweets sent a message to London that its ambassador, a career diplomat who was Monday branded an anti-Trump globalist by his foes back home, is no longer welcome in the White House.
After turning the episode into a full blown diplomatic crisis on Monday, Trump followed up on Tuesday with personal abuse of Darroch and a fresh attack on outgoing British Prime Minister Theresa May, who is standing by her envoy.
He tweeted that the ambassador was "wacky," "a very stupid guy" and a "pompous fool" and said that May's "failed" and "foolish" efforts to deliver Britain's exit from the European Union were a "disaster!"
Trump's tweets dealt a likely fatal blow to Darroch's strenuous efforts over two years to manage the almost-impossible task of forging stable ties with Trump's tumultuous White House.
In a sign that he is now out in the cold, the ambassador, who had contacts throughout the administration, was dis-invited from a dinner with Trump, the Emir of Qatar and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday night.
Trump is making clear that the "special relationship" under May's successor who will take over in a couple of weeks will be on his terms, a sentiment that could have enormous political and diplomatic implications in London and beyond.
"The good news for the wonderful United Kingdom is that they will soon have a new Prime Minister," Trump tweeted.

'This is a relationship that is bigger than this situation'

The President's intervention makes the next British prime minister -- expected to be former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson -- effectively a supplicant to the US President.
His first order of business will be to repair Britain's most important diplomatic relationship. It's difficult to see how that might be accomplished without effectively appointing a new ambassador to Washington whom Trump finds favorable.
Britain will become increasingly beholden to the United States if it finally leaves the European Union since it will need a new free trade deal with Washington. By establishing fresh leverage over the UK, Trump improved his position ahead of a negotiation in which both sides expect him to drive a hard bargain.
The Trump administration also wants to peel the UK off from its European partners and hopes it will join its effort to punish Iran. Britain still supports the Iran nuclear deal that Trump exited and has come under pressure from top US officials.
Trump's state visit to London last month -- masterminded by Darroch -- was seen as Britain's best chance to deploy its own leverage to win over the President.
But if anyone thought that the warmth of his Buckingham Palace welcome in a successful state visit last month would cause Trump to give Britain a pass when it needed it, they were wrong.
Ironically, Darroch had predicted as much in one of a flurry of dispatches dating back two years that were handed to the "Mail on Sunday" by an unknown leaker.
"We might be flavor of the month, but this is still the land of 'America First,'" wrote Darroch, who in other memos described Trump as "inept" and his administration as mired in chaos.
British diplomats spent the weekend trying to contain the damage from the Mail's scoop that rocked US-UK relations.
Given the decades of friendship forged in war between Washington and London, it's likely that the current tensions will eventually be seen as just a wrinkle in a long relationship.
"Nobody is in a great position here," former Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told CNN's Erin Burnett on Monday, noting that Trump felt insulted and Britain embarrassed by the leak.
He added: "I would hope that we all recognize that this is a relationship that is bigger than this situation" and "any one personality."

Search for the leaker

Back in London, May's government repeatedly said it stood by Darroch and decried the motives of the unidentified leaker.
Different theories are being floated about the motivation of the leaker. Possibly, he or she was an official sympathetic to anti-European, pro-Trump factions in the Conservative Party who want Darroch gone to insert a new ambassador more ideologically in tune with Trump.
Perhaps someone from the next government wanted to send a sign to Trump that the days of traditional UK diplomats favorably disposed to the EU and the international establishment are numbered. In Tuesday's "The Sun" newspaper, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt -- Darroch's boss and Johnson's last remaining rival in the leadership race -- said officials would consider whether a hostile foreign power keen to disrupt relations between the US and Britain was behind the leak.
Trump's friend, Nigel Farage, the anti-Europe Brexit Party leader who Trump has said would be a great ambassador in Washington, sought his own political leverage.
He blasted the current UK ambassador to Washington on his LBC Radio show as a "globalist," adding "Kim Darroch is anti-Trump."
The British government was left in a vulnerable position after Trump barred the doors for Darroch.
After all, the ambassador was only doing his job -- providing blunt assessments of a foreign government to his superiors back home. If Trump can force Darroch home, he would send a message to any foreign government keen to exploit Britain's willingness to bend to the will of a host nation.
And by replacing Darroch, the British government would be playing right into the hands of a leaker, who must have left British diplomats abroad uncertain whether their critical memos about foreign leaders will end up in the newspapers.
May's office released a statement expressing May's "full support" for Darroch.
"We have made clear to the US how unfortunate this leak is. The selective extracts leaked do not reflect the closeness of, and the esteem in which we hold, the relationship," a spokesman said.
"At the same time we have also underlined the importance of Ambassadors being able to provide honest, unvarnished assessments of the politics in their country."  
So in the short term at least, Britain probably cannot afford to withdraw Darroch because of the precedent it would establish at home and to its envoys around the world.
Darroch was expected to leave by early next year anyway. It would not be a surprise if the new British Prime Minister finds a way to quietly finesse his departure before then.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/09/politics/us-britain-ambassador-memos-diplomacy/index.html

2019-07-09 14:57:00Z
52780327823117

Trump says UK ambassador 'a very stupid guy' - BBC News

The UK's "wacky" ambassador to the US is "a very stupid guy" Donald Trump has said, amid a row over leaked emails.

This came after Downing Street reaffirmed its "full support" for Sir Kim Darroch.

On Sunday emails revealed the ambassador had called the Trump administration "clumsy and inept".

Sir Kim will now no longer meet the president's daughter Ivanka Trump as scheduled on Tuesday, the BBC has been told.

A spokesman for Theresa May said that Sir Kim is "a dutiful, respected government official" and confirmed there are no plans for Mrs May and Mr Trump to hold a call to discuss relations following the leak.

Earlier on Tuesday Mr Trump tweeted: "The wacky Ambassador that the U.K. foisted upon the United States is not someone we are thrilled with, a very stupid guy.

"He should speak to his country, and Prime Minister May, about their failed Brexit negotiation, and not be upset with my criticism of how badly it was handled.

"I told @theresa_may how to do that deal, but she went her own foolish way-was unable to get it done. A disaster!

"I don't know the Ambassador but have been told he is a pompous fool. Tell him the USA now has the best Economy & Military anywhere in the World, by far...and they are both only getting bigger, better and stronger...Thank you, Mr. President!"

Number 10 previously called the leak "unfortunate" and has begun a formal investigation. It said the UK and US still shared a "special and enduring" relationship.

Sir Kim was scheduled to visit the White House alongside International Trade Secretary Liam Fox on Tuesday, but will not now be attending, the BBC's Nick Bryant says.

Confidential emails from the UK's ambassador, leaked to the Mail on Sunday, contained a string of criticisms of Mr Trump and his administration, and said the White House was "uniquely dysfunctional" and divided under his presidency.

Sir Kim, who became ambassador to the US in January 2016 about a year before Mr Trump took office, questioned whether this White House "will ever look competent" but also warned that the US president should not be written off.

The emails, dating from 2017, said rumours of "infighting and chaos" in the White House were mostly true and policy on sensitive issues such as Iran was "incoherent, chaotic".

Speaking on Monday following Mr Trump's initial comments on the leaked emails, Downing Street said the prime minister did not agree with Sir Kim's assessment but had "full faith" in him.

On Tuesday morning, before the president's latest comments, a Downing Street spokesman said: "We have made clear to the US how unfortunate this leak is. The selective extracts leaked do not reflect the closeness of, and the esteem in which we hold, the relationship."

But he said ambassadors needed to be able to provide honest assessments of the politics in their country, and the prime minister stood by Sir Kim.

"The UK has a special and enduring relationship with the US based on our long history and commitment to shared values and that will continue to be the case," he said.

Conservative leadership contender and former foreign secretary Boris Johnson said he had a "good relationship" with the White House.

"I think it's very important that we have a strong relationship with our most important ally", he said.

"The United States has been, will be for the foreseeable future, our number one political military friend and partner and we're going to continue to stress the vital importance of that relationship."

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https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-48921243

2019-07-09 12:51:55Z
CBMiJGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jb20vbmV3cy91ay00ODkyMTI0M9IBKGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jb20vbmV3cy9hbXAvdWstNDg5MjEyNDM

Trump tweets likely deal UK ambassador a fatal blow - CNN

With a devastating set of tweets that all but declared Ambassador Sir Kim Darroch persona-non-grata, the President did more than simply feed a personal grudge. He turned Britain's extreme discomfort into political leverage over America's best friend.
By making it clear he would prefer an envoy more sympathetic to his worldview, Trump is effectively trying to make it more difficult for another country to get accurate diplomatic reporting and internal intelligence on an administration that has alarmed many foreign allies -- not just Britain.
Trump could have turned the other cheek and sought the high ground amid the rumpus over the UK ambassador's unsparing memos about his character and dysfunctional White House.
That is not the President's way.
Where other US leaders might have chosen a less contentious route, Trump seeks to escalate, indulging his ruthless sense of another party's weakness.
In lashing out at the British government and its envoy, Trump showed familiar traits — he's thin skinned and reacts poorly to public criticism -- even when it comes from a country and a government he's often rebuked himself. And he rarely lets pass a chance for revenge.
Trump's tweets sent a message to London that its ambassador, a career diplomat who was Monday branded an anti-Trump globalist by his foes back home, is no longer welcome in the White House.
After turning the episode into a full blown diplomatic crisis on Monday, Trump followed up on Tuesday with personal abuse of Darroch and a fresh attack on outgoing British Prime Minister Theresa May, who is standing by her envoy.
He tweeted that the ambassador was "wacky," "a very stupid guy" and a "pompous fool" and said that May's "failed" and "foolish" efforts to deliver Britain's exit from the European Union were a "disaster!"
Trump's tweets dealt a likely fatal blow to Darroch's strenuous efforts over two years to manage the almost-impossible task of forging stable ties with Trump's tumultuous White House.
In a sign that he is now out in the cold, the ambassador, who had contacts throughout the administration, was dis-invited from a dinner with Trump, the Emir of Qatar and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday night.
Trump is making clear that the "special relationship" under May's successor who will take over in a couple of weeks will be on his terms, a sentiment that could have enormous political and diplomatic implications in London and beyond.
"The good news for the wonderful United Kingdom is that they will soon have a new Prime Minister," Trump tweeted.

'This is a relationship that is bigger than this situation'

The President's intervention makes the next British prime minister -- expected to be former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson -- effectively a supplicant to the US President.
His first order of business will be to repair Britain's most important diplomatic relationship. It's difficult to see how that might be accomplished without effectively appointing a new ambassador to Washington whom Trump finds favorable.
Britain will become increasingly beholden to the United States if it finally leaves the European Union since it will need a new free trade deal with Washington. By establishing fresh leverage over the UK, Trump improved his position ahead of a negotiation in which both sides expect him to drive a hard bargain.
The Trump administration also wants to peel the UK off from its European partners and hopes it will join its effort to punish Iran. Britain still supports the Iran nuclear deal that Trump exited and has come under pressure from top US officials.
Trump's state visit to London last month -- masterminded by Darroch -- was seen as Britain's best chance to deploy its own leverage to win over the President.
But if anyone thought that the warmth of his Buckingham Palace welcome in a successful state visit last month would cause Trump to give Britain a pass when it needed it, they were wrong.
Ironically, Darroch had predicted as much in one of a flurry of dispatches dating back two years that were handed to the "Mail on Sunday" by an unknown leaker.
"We might be flavor of the month, but this is still the land of 'America First,'" wrote Darroch, who in other memos described Trump as "inept" and his administration as mired in chaos.
British diplomats spent the weekend trying to contain the damage from the Mail's scoop that rocked US-UK relations.
Given the decades of friendship forged in war between Washington and London, it's likely that the current tensions will eventually be seen as just a wrinkle in a long relationship.
"Nobody is in a great position here," former Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told CNN's Erin Burnett on Monday, noting that Trump felt insulted and Britain embarrassed by the leak.
He added: "I would hope that we all recognize that this is a relationship that is bigger than this situation" and "any one personality."

Search for the leaker

Back in London, May's government repeatedly said it stood by Darroch and decried the motives of the unidentified leaker.
Different theories are being floated about the motivation of the leaker. Possibly, he or she was an official sympathetic to anti-European, pro-Trump factions in the Conservative Party who want Darroch gone to insert a new ambassador more ideologically in tune with Trump.
Perhaps someone from the next government wanted to send a sign to Trump that the days of traditional UK diplomats favorably disposed to the EU and the international establishment are numbered. In Tuesday's "The Sun" newspaper, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt -- Darroch's boss and Johnson's last remaining rival in the leadership race -- said officials would consider whether a hostile foreign power keen to disrupt relations between the US and Britain was behind the leak.
Trump's friend, Nigel Farage, the anti-Europe Brexit Party leader who Trump has said would be a great ambassador in Washington, sought his own political leverage.
He blasted the current UK ambassador to Washington on his LBC Radio show as a "globalist," adding "Kim Darroch is anti-Trump."
The British government was left in a vulnerable position after Trump barred the doors for Darroch.
After all, the ambassador was only doing his job -- providing blunt assessments of a foreign government to his superiors back home. If Trump can force Darroch home, he would send a message to any foreign government keen to exploit Britain's willingness to bend to the will of a host nation.
And by replacing Darroch, the British government would be playing right into the hands of a leaker, who must have left British diplomats abroad uncertain whether their critical memos about foreign leaders will end up in the newspapers.
May's office released a statement expressing May's "full support" for Darroch.
"We have made clear to the US how unfortunate this leak is. The selective extracts leaked do not reflect the closeness of, and the esteem in which we hold, the relationship," a spokesman said.
"At the same time we have also underlined the importance of Ambassadors being able to provide honest, unvarnished assessments of the politics in their country."  
So in the short term at least, Britain probably cannot afford to withdraw Darroch because of the precedent it would establish at home and to its envoys around the world.
Darroch was expected to leave by early next year anyway. It would not be a surprise if the new British Prime Minister finds a way to quietly finesse his departure before then.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/09/politics/us-britain-ambassador-memos-diplomacy/index.html

2019-07-09 12:32:00Z
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