Britain’s ambassador to the United States, Kim Darroch, has done something no good ambassador ever wants to do: he has made headlines. The reason? In leaked diplomatic memos, Darroch calls President Trump “inept” and “uniquely dysfunctional,” and says his presidency could very well “end in disgrace.”
“We don’t really believe this administration is going to become substantially more normal; less dysfunctional; less unpredictable; less faction riven; less diplomatically clumsy and inept,” Darroch writes in one dispatch.
That’s troubling enough for those who believe that the special relationship between Britain and the Unites States is of the utmost importance for both countries, but it gets even worse. Darroch also calls Trump personally “insecure” and “incompetent.” Additionally, Darroch wrote in the missives, although Trump frequently dismisses criticism as “fake news,” those news items are actually “mostly true.”
In other reports, Darroch argues that Trump’s assertion that he canceled a military operation against Iran because he didn’t want to kill 150 Iranians “doesn’t stand up.” No, according to Darroch, “[i]t’s more likely that he was never fully on board and that he was worried about how this apparent reversal of his 2016 campaign promises would look come 2020.”
That’s quite a statement… and it’s also one that the ambassador can’t back up. Unless he has any special psychic talents, he — like all of us — lacks the ability to read Trump’s mind.
What all these comments boil down to is this: Britain’s ambassador to the U.S. is a NeverTrumper. A man who is so influenced by his personal dislike of Trump that it colors his reports to his own government.
Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage (formerly of UKIP and an outspoken Trump supporter) has rightfully responded with great outrage to Darroch’s anti-Trump mania. “Kim Darroch is totally unsuitable for the job and the sooner he is gone the better,” Farage writes on Facebook.
So far, however, Farage is the only influential British politician who understands that Darroch can’t remain. The British government — led by the Tories — has defended the ambassador, arguing that “the British public would expect our ambassadors to provide ministers with an honest, unvarnished assessment of the politics in their country.” Britain’s Foreign Policy Office adds, just for the record of course, that “their views are not necessarily the views of ministers or indeed the government.”
In other words, nothing to see here, move along. Darroch has insulted the American president, who just so happens to be Britain’s most important ally, but hey! Let’s move on. N.O.W.
If Boris Johnson succeeds Theresa May as prime minister, firing (or relocating) Darroch has to be his first act.
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