BRITAIN’S ambassador to the US will stay in Washington DC despite branding Donald Trump and his White House “inept” and “incompetent”.
Sir Kim Darroch issued a series of damning indictments about the President in secret cables back to Whitehall over two years.
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A massive tranche of the highly restricted memos – knows as ‘diptels’ – was leaked yesterday.
In them, the senior diplomat also dubbed Trump’s White House “uniquely dysfunctional” and “divided” and claimed the US leader “radiates insecurity”.
There were calls last night for Sir Kim to be recalled to London, as the Foreign Office called in the police to carry out a leak inquiry.
But Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt stood by popular Sir Kim, 65, who previously worked as the PM’s National Security Adviser.
HUNT’S COMMENTS
Mr Hunt said he was “doing his job” as “frank opinions” from ambassadors are vital.
But in a bid to smooth over the Transatlantic rift, Mr Hunt added: “It’s also important to say this was a personal view. It’s not the view of the British government. It’s not my view.
“We continue to think that under President Trump the US administration is not just highly effective but the best possible friend of the United Kingdom on the international stage.”
Mr Trump stayed silent on the story yesterday, broken by the Mail on Sunday, despite it also featuring prominently across the US media.
Instead, speculation was rife last night that the leak was part of a raging battle to succeed Sir Kim, whose prized posting ends in January next year when he is due to retire.
A small number of senior Tory ministers were last night under suspicion as the culprit as Sir Kim’s memos were only sent to a very limited distribution list.
SUSPECTED LEAKERS
One senior Tory MP told The Sun: “Who would have gone to the trouble of saving up two years of diptels? I’m guessing an ambitious minister or their spad [special adviser]”.
Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill is rumoured to be lined up to succeed Sir Kim, but the embarrassing leak could jeopardise that as Mr Trump may now prefer to deal with a visibly pro-US politician.
Staggering in its scale, the huge leak also contains a series of other extraordinarily blunt observations about Mr Trump and his feuding aides, including how:
- Mr Trump didn’t tell the truth about why a missile strike on Iran was called off at the last minute last month, as he never really approved it
- His presidency could “crash and burn” over suspect links to Moscow as there “could have been active collusion” with Russian spies to undermine the 2016 presidential election
- Trump’s reign will not “ever look competent” because of his personality and the “knife fight” infighting among his aides
The leak will also embarrass likely next PM Boris Johnson, who is already planning a trip to Washington DC to see President Trump in the White House soon after he enters No10.
Brexit Party leader and Trump confidante Nigel Farage tweeted: “Kim Darroch is totally unsuitable for the job and the sooner he is gone the better”.
Former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab added: “I’d be very careful what you say on a personal basis. Some of that retrospectively may have been a bit unwise”.
But Commons Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Tom Tugendhat dubbed it “an unauthorised leak by someone who has no regards for the safety of the British people” and “a complete disgrace”.
Sir Kim Darroch’s alleged leaked memos
- “As seen from here, we really don’t believe that this Administration is going to become substantially more normal; less dysfunctional, less unpredictable, less faction-riven, less diplomatically clumsy and inept.”
- “I don’t think this Administration will ever look competent.”
- “For a man who has risen to the highest office on the planet, President Trump radiates insecurity.”
- “His team were also dazzled, telling us that this had been a visit like no other – the hottest ticket of their careers. These are close contacts, with whom we have spent years building relationships: they are the gate keepers and the “Trump Whisperers” – the individuals we rely upon to ensure the UK voice is being heard in the West Wing.
- (Talking about Iran airstrikes) “It’s more likely that he was never fully on board and that he was worried about how this apparent reversal of his 2016 campaign promises would look come 2020”
- “The worst cannot be ruled out” (Collusion between Trump and Russia)
- “It’s important to ‘flood the zone’: you want as many as possible of those who Trump consults to give him the same answer. So we need to be creative in using all the channels available to us through our relationships with his Cabinet, the White House staff, and our contacts among his outside friends.”
- “Of the main campaign promises, not an inch of the Wall has been built; the executive orders on travel bans from Muslim countries have been blocked by the state courts; tax reform and the infrastructure package have been pushed into the middle distance; and the repeal and replacement of Obamacare is on a knife edge.”
Justice Secretary David Gauke also defended Sir Kim and slammed the leak as “disgraceful”.
Ministers expect “honest, unvarnished advice” from senior diplomats, he argued, adding: “Ambassadors need to be able to make their honest assessment of the situation and report back to London”.
A Foreign Office spokesman confirmed: “A formal leak investigation will now be initiated”.
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Nigel Farage responded to the leak by calling Sir Kim Darroch ‘totally unsuitable for the job’
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