8 July 2019 | UK NEWS
The US President has hit out against Theresa May’s administration today, saying that it has made a “mess” of Brexit. It comes amid a leak of private communications from the office of the British Ambassador to the United States (Sir Kim Darroch) over the weekend, which described Donald Trump’s government as “inept”.
Mr Trump tweeted the following:
The condemnation of a UK administration by a US President – said to be the worst in decades – is likely to be met with sorrow in Downing Street as the outgoing Prime Minister prepares to resign from office in a little over two weeks. Earlier today, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said:
“Our ambassadors provide honest, unvarnished assessments of politics in their country, those views are not necessarily the views of ministers or indeed of the Government. This leak is not acceptable. We would expect such advice to be handled in the correct way and a leak inquiry has been launched.”
The International Trade Secretary, Liam Fox, described the state of affairs as a “potentially damaging event”, adding that he hoped “the full force of our internal discipline, or even the law” would come down on whoever was responsible.
One quote from the leaked diplomatic advice was reported to be: “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.”
Meanwhile, the Labour Party’s affiliated trade unions have confirmed their standpoint on Brexit today, having previously asked Jeremy Corbyn for more time to decide upon an agreed collective position. It is reported in Westminster that this position is as follows:
- Any new deal negotiated by the next Conservative Prime Minister should be put to a referendum;
- Any date for Brexit that is to take place without a comprehensive negotiated deal in place with the EU should be included in any such referendum;
- The ballot should consist of a choice between these negotiated settlements and the United Kingdom remaining a member of the European Union;
- The Labour Party should campaign for the Remain cause.
It is also understood that, should a General Election take place in the short term and be won by Labour, then the party would seek to renegotiate a deal on its own terms and then put this deal to the country in a new referendum, which would be set against the Remain option.
While it has been reported that this means the Labour Party’s position is now firmly in favour of Remain, it should be stressed that this is merely the stance of its affiliated trade unions. Having now agreed a collective position, the news means that the unions will now pressure Labour to adopt this policy officially itself. Nonetheless, the development has been welcomed as a sign of significant progress by the Remain movement and the People’s Vote cause.
In the newspapers today, we read in The Guardian that the veteran Labour MP for Vauxhall, Kate Hoey, has announced that she will step down at the next General Election.
The Telegraph also carries a story today that speculates on what might happen if there were to be a change in the Labour Party leadership.
