Make peace with Trump after '˜rude' Tory comments, May told

DONALD TRUMP'S top team have 'reservations' about Theresa May's government, Nigel Farage has revealed after his meeting with the US President elect.
Thumbs up: Donald Trump with  Nigel Farage, who has become the first British politician to meet the President-elect.Thumbs up: Donald Trump with  Nigel Farage, who has become the first British politician to meet the President-elect.
Thumbs up: Donald Trump with Nigel Farage, who has become the first British politician to meet the President-elect.

The interim Ukip leader, who became the first British politician to meet Mr Trump since his shock victory, said some of the Republican’s core advisers were concerned about unflattering comments made by British Cabinet Ministers.

Mr Farage disclosed members of the president-elect’s inner circle remain sceptical, though Mr Trump told him he had a “nice conversation” with Mrs May.

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“He said he had a nice conversation, although some of his team had reservations about what members of the Cabinet have said during the election. Believe you me, his team are conscious of the comments,” Mr Farage said.

Asked why the President
elect had agreed to meet him, Mr Farage said: “He was very grateful I put my head over the parapet and he recognised that.

“His whole team are pro-Britain. I am extremely optimistic about Britain’s future.”

The pair met at Trump Tower in New York and spent over an hour discussing the president-elect’s victory, global politics and the status of Brexit, according to Ukip.

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Mr Farage used US media appearances to warn Mrs May that she needed to “mend fences” with Mr Trump after the “quite rude” things said about him by leading Tories.

Asked why the President-
elect should meet the PM after the things senior Tories had said about him, Mr Farage said: “I think he has got to meet her. Mrs May’s team have been quite rude about Trump, so there are some fences to be mended.”

Downing Street moved to try and play down the significance of the Ukip leader’s meeting with Mr Trump.

A spokesman for Mrs May said that No 10 “has been consistent that Mr Farage has no role” in the Government’s relationship with the incoming US administration.

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The interim Ukip leader has suggested that “insulting” comments about Mr Trump by senior Tories may have been the reason why Mrs May was only 10th on the president-elect’s list of foreign leaders to call after his surprise win last Tuesday.

Mr Farage’s remarks came after it emerged Mrs May’s joint chief of staff Fiona Hill posted last December: “Donald Trump is a chump.”

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was scathing about Mr Trump’s attitude to Muslims while he was mayor of London last December, saying: “I think Donald Trump is clearly out of his mind if he thinks that’s a sensible way to proceed, to ban people going to the United States in that way, or to any country.

“What he’s doing is playing the game of the terrorists and those who seek to divide us. That’s exactly the kind of reaction they hope to produce.

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“I think he’s betraying a quite stupefying ignorance that makes him, frankly, unfit to hold the office of President of the United States.”

Mr Farage said he “stressed the importance of the Anglo-American relationship” at the meeting and asked Mr Trump to return a bust of Sir Winston Churchill to the White House Oval Office, a party spokesman said.

The statue was removed under Barack Obama’s administration and Mr Trump was said to have “expressed excitement” over the idea.

Former UK trade envoy Lord Marland said Mr Farage could be a salesman for Britain with President-elect Trump.

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He said that Mr Trump would want to “turbo-charge” the relationship between the US and the UK which had actually been through a difficult time. He said “any manufacturer would use its best salesman to try and help get a market” and that Downing Street may turn to Mr Farage.

Letters: Page 12; Opinion: Page 13.