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Kim Darroch, the former British ambassador to the United States, has said that Boris Johnson is fascinated and inspired by Donald Trump, and is intrigued by the US president’s unequal relationship “to facts and truth.”
In a new book published in the Times, Lord Darroch said Johnson must share the blame for his resignation as ambassador to Washington, which followed the leak of diplomatic cables disparaging Trump.
Darroch wrote that Johnson had been “fascinated” by Trump on his visits to Washington as foreign secretary before he became prime minister, with particular emphasis on the president’s use of language.
This includes “the limited vocabulary, the simplicity of the messages, the disdain for political correctness, the sometimes inflammatory images and the intermittent relationship, at best, with facts and truth,” wrote the former diplomat.
In an interview that accompanies the excerpts, Darroch was asked if any of those traits had passed on to Johnson.
“From what I hear from colleagues, this government pays a lot of attention to presentation, to language,” he said.
But if you go over the history of the current prime minister, he has often said quite surprising things. And he never apologizes. So Boris could have done this anyway, but certainly, having seen Trump in action, he would not have been discouraged. “
Trump had also considered Johnson a “soul mate,” according to the former ambassador.
Darroch said he told Johnson he was partly to blame for his resignation from his Washington post, following a cable leak in which the ambassador said Trump was “inept” as president.
Johnson, then running for Conservative leadership, repeatedly refused to say he would keep Darroch in office during a televised debate on July 9 of last year. Darroch resigned the next day and spoke to Johnson on the phone.
“He said, ‘But why did you quit? Wouldn’t everything have disappeared after a few weeks? “Darroch told the newspaper.
In response to Johnson’s question whether the resignation was his fault, Darroch told him that “in part it was.”
After Darroch left the diplomatic service after a 42-year career, Trump responded with a series of epithets, calling him “the crazy ambassador”, “pompous” and “a very stupid guy.”
