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In a televised debate on Tuesday, UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who is standing against Johnson for the leadership of the Conservative party, reiterated his support for Kim Darroch, who was revealed in leaked cables to have criticized Trump as “inept” and “incompetent,” among other things. “I will keep [Darroch] until he’s due to retire,” he said.
Johnson, a former Foreign Secretary, refused to go out on a limb about whether he would decide to keep Darroch on. “I won’t be so presumptuous as to assume that I’m going to be in a position to take that,” he said.
“It is vital that our civil service is not politicized by people leaking what they say,” Johnson also said. “Whoever leaked that deserves to be eviscerated.”
Johnson is currently seen as the frontrunner in the race, after May was effectively toppled by her own lawmakers for failing to deliver on Brexit. He is expected to seek to forge a much closer relationship to Trump than May, who made strenuous efforts to court the President and developed a respectful relationship but never really bonded with him politically.
“Very wacky”
Trump also took aim at Theresa May, describing the Prime Minister’s handling of Brexit as “a disaster!”
“Friends speak frankly so I will: these comments are disrespectful and wrong to our Prime Minister and my country. Your diplomats give their private opinions to [Secretary of State Mike Pompeo] and so do ours!” Hunt tweeted Tuesday.
“You said the UK/US alliance was the greatest in history and I agree … but allies need to treat each other with respect as [Theresa May] has always done with you. Ambassadors are appointed by the UK government and if I become PM our Ambassador stays.”
Hunt’s defense of Darroch came amid growing speculation around whether the ambassador can remain in his position if the White House freezes him out. Darroch decided not to attend a meeting with Ivanka Trump on Tuesday following the President’s criticism of him, a source told CNN.
‘Inept’ and ‘incompetent’
A UK government source told CNN the memos described in the Mail, which span the period between 2017 to present day, were genuine.
British officials spent the weekend trying to do damage control after the messages leaked, as their White House counterparts downplayed Darroch’s comments.
Darroch was originally scheduled to attend a meeting Tuesday between Ivanka Trump and UK International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, but decided not to go following Trump’s tweets attacking him, a source familiar with Darroch’s plans told CNN.
“It was the ambassador’s decision not to attend. He did not want to put Ivanka Trump in a difficult position,” said the source, who asked not to be named due to the delicate diplomatic situation between the US and the UK.
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