The U.S President Donald Trump has responded to the UK ambassador in Washington’s leaked memos. Trump said Sir Kim Darroch has not served the UK well. Sir Kim described the White House as incompetent and inept, in the highly sensitive documents. Darroch wrote, “We don’t really believe this administration is going to become substantially more normal”. Trump was speaking to reporters in New Jersey and said, “The ambassador hasn’t served the UK well, I can tell you that. We are not big fans of that man and he hasn’t served the UK well … I can say things about him but I won’t bother”.
The British government earlier said that it had launched an investigation to discover who leaked the memos. The UK Foreign Office said, “Our team in Washington have strong relations with the White House and no doubt … these will withstand such mischievous behavior”. The British embassy informed the White House that the memos would be published over the weekend. Both sides were in touch throughout the weekend. The UK justice secretary David Gauke called the leak as disgraceful but said Britain should expect our ambassadors to tell the truth, as they see it.
The Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt moved to prevent damage caused by the disclosure of candid cables. Hunt described the comments as personal opinions and not the opinions of the British government. He said on Sunday, “It’s really important to say that the ambassador was doing his job as an ambassador which is to give frank reports and personal opinions regarding what’s happening in the country where he works. Hunt added that the ambassador’s job is to send back those reports but they are personal opinions, not the opinions of the British government, not my opinion. He said, “We continue to think that under President Trump the United States administration is both highly effective and the best possible friend of Britain on the international stage”.