UK ambassador's Trump criticism likely to strain ties

The "special relationship" between the United Kingdom and the United States was tested on the weekend when it emerged that the British ambassador to Washington had reportedly labeled the Trump administration "inept", "uniquely dysfunctional", and "divided".

The brutally honest remarks were said to have been contained in secret cables and briefing notes written by Ambassador Kim Darroch that were subsequently leaked to the Mail on Sunday, apparently by someone within Britain's sprawling civil service.

The leaked documents date back as far as 2017 and contain the ambassador's initial observations about President Donald Trump and his evolving thoughts about the president and his administration.

Darroch, who has been London's man in Washington since 2016, wrote the messages as forthright appraisals of Trump and expected them to remain confidential.

At one point he wrote: "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." And he noted that media reports of "vicious infighting and chaos" in the White House were "mostly true", and that it was doubtful the administration under Trump "will ever look competent".

The ambassador also reportedly said the best way to make a point when addressing Trump was with "simple, even blunt" arguments. Darroch said such simple reasoning might be needed when interacting with the president on issues that the two nations disagree upon, such as climate change, press freedom, and the death penalty.

The Foreign Office described the leaking of the memos to the Mail on Sunday as "mischievous" but did not dispute their authenticity.

The BBC quoted Nigel Farage, leader of the UK's Brexit Party and a friend of Trump, as saying Darroch was "totally unsuitable for the job" and that the "sooner he is gone the better", but the UK's justice secretary, David Guake, said the offering of unfiltered honest advice is part of an ambassador's job.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman told the broadcaster the views of diplomats were "not necessarily the views of ministers or indeed the government. But we pay them to be candid".

"Our team in Washington have strong relations with the White House and no doubt these will withstand such mischievous behavior," she said.

In one leaked memo, Darroch predicted the Trump presidency could "crash and burn" and "end in disgrace" and in another he described Trump as "insecure" and "incompetent".

Darroch joined the diplomatic service in 1977 after graduating from Durham University with a degree in zoology. He served as the UK's permanent representative to the European Union between 2007 and 2011 and was a security advisor to then prime minister David Cameron before becoming the UK's ambassador to the US a few months before Trump became president. Darroch's name first hit the headlines when Trump moved into the White House and called for Nigel Farage to be given Darroch's job.

Darroch said in an interview with the Financial Times last year that he has met Trump "seven or eight times and always found him to be absolutely charming".