Boris Johnson’s fury as Donald Trump wades into election to back Nigel Farage
Boris Johnson’s fury as Donald Trump wades into the election to back Nigel Farage and urge the two to do a pact while criticizing the PM’s Brexit deal for making US-UK trade deal ‘difficult’
- No 10 insists ‘we can strike our free trade deals around the world’ post-Brexit
- US President said: ‘Under certain aspects of the deal. You just can’t do it’
- Mr. Trump said Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage could do something ‘terrific’
-
The US President heaped praise on Mr. Johnson, describing him as a ‘terrific guy’ who would deliver Brexit.
Mr. Trump repeatedly appealed to Mr. Farage to join forces with the Conservatives at the election, telling him: ‘I’d like to see you and Boris get together cause you would really have some numbers – you did fantastically in the last election, and he respects you a lot. I just wish you two guys could get together – I think it would be a great thing.’
But the Brexit Party leader was circumspect about the chances of an electoral pact.
Mr. Farage said the PM had brought ‘a tremendous amount of energy to the job’.
But he remained critical of Mr. Johnson’s Brexit deal – and suggested he would only back down if the PM switched to a No Deal strategy. He told Mr. Trump: ‘If he drops this dreadful deal, fights the General Election on the basis that we just want to have trade with Europe but no political influence, do you know what? I would be right behind him.’
Mr. Corbyn has repeatedly claimed that US corporations could be given access to the NHS as part of a new post-Brexit trade deal. The claim looks set to be a central part of Labour’s election campaign, despite direct denials from Mr. Johnson, Trade Secretary Liz Truss, and Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
Mr. Trump last night said it was untrue – and suggested Mr. Corbyn had made it up.
He said: ‘I mean, it’s so ridiculous I think Corbyn put that out there.’
Mr. Corbyn hit back, accusing Mr. Trump of ‘trying to interfere in Britain’s election to get his friend Boris Johnson elected’. He said the President had put the NHS ‘on the table’ in trade talks, adding: ‘He knows if Labour wins, US corporations won’t get their hands on it. Our NHS is not for sale.’
Mr. Trump’s intervention was not entirely helpful to the Prime Minister.
The President said he was ‘disappointed’ that Mr. Johnson – who marks 100 days in office today – had not managed to deliver Brexit, and he warned that a comprehensive free trade agreement could be impossible to negotiate under the terms of the PM’s Brexit deal.