Donald Trump may have spent the last couple of days obsessing over the UK and its ambassador in the US – but it seems not everyone in his team is as up-to-date with what’s happening on this side of the pond.
As the president waged a Twitter war on Kim Darroch and Theresa’ May’s “failed Brexit negotiation” on Tuesday, Kellyanne Conway – Trump’s White House counsellor – confidently suggested to reporters the prime minister had already left office.
“The president has made very clear the way he feels about the ambassador and those comments and the way he felt about how Brexit was handled,” Conway said.
“I mean, it looks like we’re on the precipice of having a brand new prime minister and I think Theresa May’s last day was basically as we were leaving the UK last month.”
She will be replaced in Downing Street by either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt, with Tory Party members left to cast the deciding vote.
Conway’s mix-up comes amid a row between the UK and the White House after leaked diplomatic memos showed Darroch – who has been the British ambassador to the US since 2016 – calling Trump’s administration as “uniquely dysfunctional” and “inept”.
On Tuesday, Trump called Darroch “wacky” and a “very stupid guy”, saying he had been “foisted upon the United States”.
“I don’t know the Ambassador but have been told he is a pompous fool,” he wrote.
“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!”