Theresa May has slapped down Nigel Farage’s suggestion he could serve as an intermediary between the British government and Donald Trump.
Downing Street said on Monday morning the prime minister did not need a “third person” to help her talk to the next US president.
Farage rushed to the United States last week following Trump’s election. The Ukip leader met the president-elect in New York on Saturday and held talks for an hour. The grinner pair were photographed posing in a gold Trump Tower elevator.
May has spoken to Trump on the phone but will not meet the president-elect fro some time.
Farage has claimed Trump has “reservations” about May’s government given the criticisms many cabinet ministers had made of him during the presidential campaign.
However the prime minister’s spokeswoman today strongly rejected the idea that Farage could be a bridge between the two leaders and said there were “well-established” channels of communication between London and Trump’s team.
“The president-elect talked about enjoying the same relationship as Thatcher and Reagan. I don’t recall a third person in that,” the spokeswoman said.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph today, Farage said:
Quite why the apparatchiks in No 10 continue to say negative things about me I can’t determine. These were the same people who were negative about Trump during the campaign.
If the president-elect trusts me then I would hope that some in the British Government could do the same thing. I would be very happy to provide introductions and to start the necessary process of mending fences. And I would not want anything in return. I hope in our national interest that some sense prevails on this.
Trump named himself “Mr Brexit” during the presidential campaign and linked his election to the UK’s decision to leave the European Union.
On Sunday, Trump announced Steve Bannon, the Breitbart News Network executive chairman known for having white nationalist views, as his White House chief strategist and senior counselor.
In an interview with CBS, Trump also said he plans to deport or imprison somewhere between 2 million and 3 million undocumented immigrants as soon as he takes office.
Today, Boris Johnson said the election of Trump should be seen as a “moment of opportunity” for Britain.
Johnson refused to attend an emergency meeting on Sunday of EU foreign ministers to discuss the implications of Trump’s victory, branding vocal European concerns about his election as a “whinge-o-rama”.
Arriving for a regular meeting with his EU counterparts in Brussels, he insisted that the election of the property tycoon and reality TV star could be “a good thing” for both Europe and Britain.
“I think there is a lot to be positive about and it is very important not to pre-judge the president-elect or his administration,” said Mr Johnson.
“It’s only a few days since the election has taken place. I think we all need to wait and see what they come up with. But I think we should regard it as a moment for opportunity.”