Iran Press/America: Donald Trump has said Britain’s ambassador to the US has “not served the UK well” as he hit back following the leak of embarrassing confidential Foreign Office memos.
Earlier, Britain's Foreign Office ordered an inquiry into the leaking of the cables, written by the ambassador to Washington, Kim Darroch, in which Trump’s White House is described as “uniquely dysfunctional” and “inept”, The Guardian reported.
Darroch cast doubt on whether the Trump administration would ever become more stable, described the president as insecure, and suggested Trump’s career might end in disgrace.
Asked about the controversy in New Jersey by reporters on Sunday night, Donald Trump said: “The ambassador has not served the UK well, I can tell you that. We are not big fans of that man … I can say things about him, but I won’t bother.”
Darroch’s comments were made in a series of briefings sent to London over the past two years, which were published by the Mail on Sunday. The publication of such remarks from the UK’s top diplomatic representative in Washington is an embarrassment for Trump and his administration.
In one of the most recent of the leaked memos, Darroch criticized the “incoherent, chaotic” US policy on Iran.
Commenting on the leak, the British foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said: “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.”
Tom Tugendhat, the Conservative chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee, told BBC Radio 4’s World This Weekend it was “a very serious breach” of diplomatic rules and that an inquiry must follow. “Diplomats must be able to communicate securely with their governments in order to be able to convey the messages that everybody needs to know,” he said. "Governments cannot make reasonable decisions unless they have all the facts available to them, and that means an honest assessment of the political situation in the host country."
"This must be investigated. And, if anybody is found to have been responsible, they must be prosecuted."
Britain's Foreign Office has confirmed that a formal leak investigation will be initiated.
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