American presidents intervening in British politics is always very well received
Theresa May has earned another critic in her handling of Brexit, as if she didn’t have enough, with Donald Trump condemning the prime minister for refusing to listen to his ideas on how to negotiate with the European Union.
MPs have rejected May’s withdrawal agreement by huge margins twice and will next vote on delaying Brexit on Thursday night.
Ahead of that make or break moment, US president Trump gave his take on how well things are going.
“I’m surprised at how badly it’s all gone from the standpoint of the negotiation, but I gave the prime minister my ideas on how to negotiate it, and I think you would have been successful,” he told reporters while sat alongside Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in the White House.
“She didn’t listen to that and that’s fine.
“She’s got to do what she’s got to do but I think it could have been negotiated in a different manner, frankly. I hate to see everything being ripped apart right now.”
The exchange of views Trump is referring to took place in a meeting last summer, with May later saying that his advice was to sue the EU.
Speaking on Thursday, Trump then took aim at the possibility of a second referendum on leaving the EU, which he deemed “unfair” on those who had campaigned successfully for Brexit in 2016.
“I don’t think another vote would be possible because it would be very unfair to the people that won,” he added.
“They’d say: ‘What do you mean you’ve gotta take another vote?’ So that would be tough.”
Trump’s comments come just hours after he had seemingly handed the government a big boost, declaring in a tweet that a trade deal with the UK as having “unlimited” potential.
“My Administration looks forward to negotiating a large scale Trade Deal with the United Kingdom,” he wrote. “The potential is unlimited!”
