Donald Trump slams Theresa May says US will 'no longer deal' with US ambassador after memo leak

US President Donald Trump has launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Theresa May and said he will no longer work with the UK ambassador to Washington.

Mr Trump's Twitter outburst comes after memos from Sir Kim Darroch, the UK's ambassador to the US, in which he described the Trump administration as "inept", "incompetent" and "uniquely dysfunctional", were leaked.

In a Twitter storm typical of the commander-in-chief, Mr Trump attacked Mrs May and her team for their handling of Brexit, criticising her for not following his advice, and urged her replacement to sack Sir Kim and appoint a replacement.

"I have been very critical about the way the UK and Prime Minister Theresa May handled Brexit. What a mess she and her representatives have created," Mr Trump tweeted.

"I told her how it should be done, but she decided to go another way.

"I do not know the Ambassador, but he is not liked or well thought of within the US we will no longer deal with him.

"The good news for the wonderful United Kingdom is that they will soon have a new Prime Minister.

"While I thoroughly enjoyed the magnificent State Visit last month, it was the Queen who I was most impressed with!"

ITV News Political Correspondent Paul Brand said he "could not recall" such a "severe... diplomatic spat between the US and the UK".

In response to Mr Trump's blistering attack a spokesperson for Mrs May said that the Prime minister still has confidence in Sir Kim, but his views "do not reflect the closeness of, and the esteem in which we hold, the relationship" between the UK and the UK.

In a more muted statement than that issued by the President, a Number 10 official said: "We have made clear to the US how unfortunate this leak is.

"The selective extracts leaked do not reflect the closeness of, and the esteem in which we hold, the relationship.

"At the same time we have also underlined the importance of ambassadors being able to provide honest, unvarnished assessments of the politics in their country.

"Sir Kim Darroch continues to have the Prime Minister's full support.

"The UK has a special and enduring relationship with the US based on our long history and commitment to shared values and that will continue to be the case."

Also on Monday, several MPs called for a criminal investigation into the leak.

It is not known who leaked the information, but TV News Political Correspondent Paul Brand said it is thought to have come from a senior source.

Theresa May said the leak was 'unacceptable' but did not agree with Sir Kim's views. Credit: PA

The leak also saw Sir Kim uninvited from a dinner by President Trump on Monday night.

The diplomatic memos, obtained by the Mail on Sunday, suggest that in order to communicate with the President “you need to make your points simple, even blunt”.

In the cache of documents, Sir Kim gives a scathing assessment of the White House: “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.”

He questioned whether the White House “will ever look competent”.

Following Mr Trump’s state visit to the UK in June, Sir Kim warned that although the president had been “dazzled” by the pomp and ceremony of the trip, his administration would remain self-interested and “this is still the land of America First”.

Number 10's views mirror those of Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who defended Sir Kim's rights to make his comments, despite not agreeing with them, but focused his attention on the leak inquiry.

The Foreign Office said it is investigating the leak that detail Sir Kim's assessments of the Trump administration from 2017 to the present.

Mr Hunt told reporters on Monday morning: "We need to find out how it happened, not least to give confidence to our teams around the world, that they can continue to give us their frank assessment, so that's why we are going to have a leak inquiry.

"Of course there will be very serious consequences if and when we find out who is responsible."

In a urgent question in the House of Commons on Monday, Foreign Office minister Sir Alan Duncan echoed the views put forward by Mrs May and Mr Hunt.

Sir Alan said the Government "utterly deplores" the leak, but added that ambassadors are supposed to be candid in their assessments of the countries they are in.

He added that if criminality is found in the leak, then the police could become involved, but stressed: "The most important focus is to establish who is responsible for this despicable leak."

International Trade Secretary Dr Liam Fox, who is currently on a trip to the US, also called for the law to be involved and expressed concern the leaks could damage the UK's relationship with Washington.

"This is such a damaging, potentially damaging, event that I hope the full force of our internal discipline, or even the law, will come down on whoever actually carried out this particular act," Dr Fox said.

Tom Tugendhat, chair of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, said he hopes there are arrests and prosecutions following a "rigorous" inquiry into the leak.

He said: "The leaks themselves aren't particularly damaging, what is damaging is the fact that the UK seems at the moment to be incapable of stopping several leaks.

"There was the leak from the National Security Council about Huawei and now this package of information.

"And it shows that there is somebody or perhaps some people in the UK administration who are, frankly, reckless and incredibly stupid and putting at risk the interests and, in some cases, more than that of British people around the world."

  • Do we know who leaked the information?

It is not known who leaked the information, but Political Correspondent Paul Brand said that the material came from both diplomatic telegrams and letters, meaning that it came from a senior source.

Brand explained that while up to 1,000 people can have access to a diplomatic telegram, letters are sent to around only 10 senior figures.

He added that both letters and telegrams are automatically deleted after three months, meaning the person behind the leaks had been purposefully saving them.

Brand continued that searches of computer and printer history may enable the source of the leak to be traced.

According to ITV News Washington Correspondent Robert Moore, the great irony of the leak is that Sir Kim's analysis of the White House is echoed by those within the West Wing.

Sir Kim has been the UK's ambassador to the US since January 2016, before taking the role he served as national security adviser to former prime minister David Cameron.

He is due to stand down, regardless of recent events, at the end of 2019.

Sir Kim's career spans three decades and he joined the diplomatic service in 1977, after graduating from Durham University with a degree in zoology.