Trump Disinvites U.K. Envoy From Dinner With Qatar’s Emir in Diplomatic Feud
U.K. Ambassador was disinvited from a dinner U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is hosting with Trump and the emir of Qatar.
(Bloomberg) -- The U.K. is trying to prevent a row with Donald Trump from escalating after the president froze out the British ambassador in Washington over leaked diplomatic memos.
“A period of cooling tempers is now required,” former U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague told BBC Radio on Tuesday, after Trump tweeted that his government “will no longer deal with” Kim Darroch. “The British government should be patient, not escalate things,” Hague said.
The row follows the publication of diplomatic cables in the Mail on Sunday newspaper in which the ambassador called the U.S. president “inept” and “incompetent.” That prompted the White House to cancel an invitation on Monday for Darroch to attend a dinner with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and the emir of Qatar, according to a U.S. official.
Handling the fallout of a major diplomatic spat with Britain’s most important foreign ally will be an early headache for either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt, who are vying to replace Theresa May as prime minister and will almost certainly face questions on the matter at a televised debate later Tuesday.
Trump made the Darroch announcement in the second of two tweets criticizing May over her handling of Brexit. “What a mess she and her representatives have created,” he said.
May said Monday that Darroch has her “full support.” A U.K. statement said Britain had made clear to the Trump administration that what it called “selective leaks” didn’t reflect the “esteem” it had for its relationship with the U.S. At the same time, the government said, “we have also underlined the importance of ambassadors being able to provide honest, unvarnished assessments of the politics in their country.”
Leak Probe
The Cabinet Office is leading a cross-government investigation into the leak of the memos, which were published in the Mail on Sunday newspaper and included Darroch calling Trump’s White House “uniquely dysfunctional.”
Hunt, the U.K. foreign secretary, acknowledged the possibility that the leak might be the result of a hack by a hostile government.
“Of course it would be massively concerning if it was the act of a foreign, hostile state,” he told The Sun newspaper. “I’ve seen no evidence that that’s the case, but we’ll look at the leak inquiry very carefully.” Hunt also distanced himself from Darroch’s communications, calling them “a personal view.”
Trump made a state visit to the U.K. last month and met with May, who will resign after failing to persuade Parliament to adopt her Brexit plan.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said U.K. diplomats are expected to be candid in reports back home and described the leak of Darroch’s communications as “mischievous behavior.”
“The British government will need to explain that you can’t change the ambassador at the demand of a host country,” Hague said. The situation calls for a “firm but calm response,” he said, “which indeed is what they’ve given.”
--With assistance from Alex Morales and Kitty Donaldson.
To contact the reporters on this story: Joe Mayes in London at jmayes9@bloomberg.net;Robert Hutton in London at rhutton1@bloomberg.net;Justin Sink in Washington at jsink1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, ;Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Stuart Biggs
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