Trump UK visit: President says Britain ‘in turmoil’ and defends ‘friend’ Boris Johnson

Donald Trump has declared that the UK is “in turmoil” amid a spate of ministerial resignations over Brexit, and suggested that his meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin would be the easiest of his trips to Europe.

Mr Trump, speaking as he left Washington for his week-long trip, which includes meeting with Nato leaders and Theresa May, offered little support for the embattled UK prime minister.

Speaking as he and wife Melania boarded Marine One outside the White House, Mr Trump said: “It’s going to be an interesting time in the UK and an interesting time at Nato. We will work it out and all countries will be happy.

“So I have Nato, I have the UK – which is in somewhat turmoil. And I have Putin. Frankly, Putin may be the easiest of all.”

With Ms May facing the culmination of months of unrest within her own Conservative Party over the negotiations for Britain to leave the EU, Mr Trump offered few words of reassurence.

Instead the US president told reporters that Boris Johnson – the second of Ms May’s Cabinet ministers to quit within 24 hours – was a “friend”.

“Boris Johnson is a friend of mine, he’s been very, very nice to me, very supportive. And I maybe will speak to him when I get over there. I like Boris Johnson, I’ve always liked him,” Mr Trump said.

Last month, leaked remarks from Mr Johnson suggested that Mr Trump would be able to do a better job of negotiating Brexit than Ms May.

“I am increasingly admiring of Donald Trump,” the former foreign secretary said. “I have become more and more convinced that there is method in his madness.”

“Imagine Trump doing Brexit,” he went on. “There’d be all sorts of breakdowns, all sorts of chaos. Everyone would think he’d gone mad. But actually you might get somewhere. It’s a very, very good thought.”

Mr Trump’s visit on Friday, which is sure to attract protests across the country, will add to the pressure on Ms May, who has seen both Mr Johnson and former Brexit secretary David Davis leave her government since Sunday.

Commenting on Ms May’s position, Mr Trump said that the UK “certainly has a lot of things going on”.

Asked whether Ms May should be replaced as prime minister, the US president replied: “Well that’s up to the people. I get along with her very well, I have a very good relationship. That’s certainly up to the people, not up to me.”

Mr Johnson said in his resignation letter that Ms May was proposing a “semi-Brexit.” Contact with him by Mr Trump during his visit would be seen by many as an insult to Ms May.

“Brexit should be about opportunity and hope,” Mr Johnson said in his letter to May on Monday. “That dream is dying, suffocated by needless self-doubt.”

The relationship between Ms May and Mr Trump have been strained at times, since he entered the White House. There have been clashes over US tariffs on steel and aluminium as well as comments Mr Trump made about the level of knife crime in London.

The enduring image of Ms May’s visit to the White House in January 2017, when she became the first foreign leader to meet the president after he took office, was Mr Trump taking Ms May’s hand to help her down the steps of the White House colonnade. That sought to show the two nations were still on strong terms, but this week’s visit is set to be a little more strained.

Before he meets Ms May, Mr Trump will attend a Nato summit in Brussels. After his UK visit, the president will head to Helsinki to meet with Mr Putin, both of those visits will pose their own challenges for Mr Trump.

The potential diplomatic embrace for Mr Putin, will do little to reassure Mr Trump’s Nato allies of his commitment to the 69-year-old transatlantic mutual defence pact.

Mr Trump said as he was leaving Washington on Tuesday that he “can’t say right now” if Mr Putin is a friend or foe, but called him a “competitor”. The US intelligence community has concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to boost Trump’s candidacy, and warns of further attempts at interference both in the 2018 midterms and in European elections.

Since his election campaign in 2016, Mr Trump has also criticised his Nato allies for placing too much of the financial burden for the alliance on the US. On Tuesday Mr Trump again hit out at the pact, saying: “Frankly it helps them a lot more than it helps us.”

Mr Trump has been pressing Nato countries to fulfil their goal of spending two per cent of their gross domestic products on defence by 2024. During his presidential campaign, he suggested he might only come to the defence of Nato nations that fulfilled their obligation.

Donald Tusk, president of the European council, warned Mr Trump that “it is always worth knowing who is your strategic friend and who is your strategic problem”. Mr Tusk recalled that the Europeans are spending more than Russia and as much as China on defence. Nato estimates that 15 members, or just over half, will meet the benchmark by 2024 based on current trends.