Donald Trump has once again thrown a diplomatic spanner into the works by declaring Theresa May’s Brexit deal “sounds like a great deal for the EU”.
The US President told reporters outside the White House on Monday that the deal was so bad it could mean the UK “may not be allowed to trade” with the United States.
It’s a threat likely to elicit fury at No.10, as the government has long touted the prospect of a juicy deal with the US as a reason why Brexit will be a good thing for the UK.
Downing Street was left scrambling to hastily draft a statement in the hope it could somehow mitigate the words of the world’s most powerful man.
When asked about the latest comments from Trump, May said the UK is working “very well” with the United States and “we have already been talking to them about the sort of agreement that we could have in the future”.
But it’s not the first time Trump has side-stepped diplomacy – causing some serious political headaches for May, a PM who is battling to get her Brexit deal through the Commons while retaining a cordial enough relationship with the President to negotiate a trade deal once the UK leaves the EU.
In The Beginning...
It wasn’t too long ago that the relationship between May and Trump looked set to be close and mutually beneficial.
In January of last year, when the two world leaders first met, there was even actual hand-holding – a moment seized upon by those watching as evidence the special relationship was secured.
But It’s Easy To Forget – He’d Already Snubbed Her
Downing Street made much of the fact May would be the first world leader to visit the new President after he took office, but two months earlier Nigel Farage upstaged her slightly when he was pictured with Trump just days after winning the US Presidential election.
At the time May had only spoken to Trump over the phone, after reportedly waiting for a string of other leaders to congratulate the winner.
Despite the apparent favouritism, May stoically kept the peace, inviting the President for a full state visit later in 2017 (but more on that later).
But Things Quickly Began To Unravel
In a White House memo detailing the pair’s Oval Office meeting, staffers repeatedly spelled her name wrong. Instead of writing “Theresa” with an “h”, they wrote “Teresa”. In doing so, they confused May with the British former adult actress and model Teresa May of (almost) the same name.
Although this faux pas could easily be put down to a typo, signs the special relationship were becoming frayed became more evident as 2017 wore on.
Trump’s habit of tweeting about terror attacks in the UK before the facts had been fully established was clearly an annoyance for May, particularly when he implied the Parsons Green attacker had been “in the sights of Scotland Yard”.
May described the comments as not “helpful”, adding police and security services were still working to discover the “full circumstances” of the “cowardly attack”.
The Downgrade
After initially being promised a full state visit, in October it was revealed Trump would instead receive a “stripped-down” trip that would not involve getting the full red carpet treatment from the Queen.
The decision was largely fuelled by the threat of huge public protests and an increasing unease of May’s praise of the “gentleman” president, who by this point had been accused of paying hush money the porn stars and bragging about sexually assaulting women.
Trump Goes... Full Trump
May was forced to engage in even more forceful denunciation of Trump after he retweeted three inflammatory anti-Islam videos posted by the deputy leader of the far-right group, Britain First.
In an unprecedented condemnation of the White House, Downing Street hit out at the President, saying: “Britain First seeks to divide communities through their use of hateful narratives which peddle lies and stoke tension.
“They cause anxiety to law-abiding people. British people overwhelmingly reject the prejudiced rhetoric of the far-right which is the antithesis of the values that this country represents: decency, tolerance and respect.
“It is wrong for the President to have done this.”
Trump in turn retaliated, but managed to mess that up too. “Don’t focus on me,” he told @TheresaMay, a woman called Theresa Scrivener who had just six followers.
New Year, New Problems
2018 was the year of Trump’s first visit to the UK as President and it went about as well as everyone expected.
Almost immediately after arriving at the first major engagement of the trip, a gala black tie dinner at Blenheim Palace, The Sun published a bombshell interview with the President in which he warned May’s Brexit plan would “kill” any future US trade deal.
He told the newspaper that Britain remaining so closely aligned to the European Union under her plans would undermine a UK-US trade pact – which is seen as one of the biggest prizes after quitting the bloc.
In another swipe, Trump also said he would have done the Brexit negotiations “much differently” and claimed the Prime Minister did not listen to his advice.
In a half-hearted attempt to mitigate the disaster, Trump later accused The Sun of printing “fake news” despite the paper quoting him directly and having the tapes to back it up.
The Right Royal Cock-Up
After all the back and forth over what Trump’s visit would actually entail, he was eventually granted a meeting with the Queen.
The President arrived at Windsor Castle where the Queen literally had to teach him how to walk in a straight line.
Which just about brings us up to today – no doubt there will be further updates soon.