US President Donald Trump has waded into British politics again, addressing the key question facing pro-leave right-wingers in the upcoming general election.
The US president said he hoped British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a “wonderful guy,” and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage would come together on a united political platform.
Trump spoke to reporters at the White House after returning from a visit to New York to watch a UFC fight, an evening which produced both boos and cheers and stoked fierce debate on Sunday.
Asked which British politician he would side with if he had to choose, Trump said: “I like them both... So I think Boris will get it right. They’re both friends of mine. What I’d like to see is for Nigel and Boris to come together. I think that’s a possibility.”
Farage on Sunday said he would not run for a seat in the election.
Johnson has already rejected the suggestion from both Trump and Farage that he should work with the Brexit party.
Instead, Johnson has talked up the prospect of a post-Brexit trade deal with the US as one of the biggest prizes of leaving the EU.
“Boris is the right man for the time. He’s really for the times. He’s a great gentleman. He’s a wonderful guy. He’s tough, he’s smart and I think he’s going to do something,” Trump said.
Speaking to Farage on the British politician’s LBC radio show last week, Trump said Johnson’s proposed Brexit deal would prevent the UK and US from striking a trade deal of their own and described the situation as “completely ridiculous.”
Downing Street rejected that claim.
On Sunday, Trump indicated that if the UK made a clean break with Europe, as opposed to remaining in the customs union in any form, the US would be in a better position to strike a trade deal.
“We’re far and away the number one economy in the world,” Trump said. “And, if you do it a certain way, we’re prohibited from trading with the UK. That would be very bad for the UK because we can do much more business than the European Union.”
In his broadcast conversation with Farage on Thursday, Trump also disparaged Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.
In response, Corbyn wrote on Twitter: “Donald Trump is trying to interfere in Britain’s election to get his friend Boris Johnson elected.”
Farage yesterday showed no sign of backing down in his opposition to Johnson’s Brexit deal or on his pledge to stand 600 candidates across the country to challenge the Conservatives.
“What we get with Boris is three more years of negotiations minimum, we go on paying, we have taxation without representation, we have no voice, they can do what they like to us and we’re committed to staying part of EU rules forever,” Farage told ITV. “That is not Brexit.”
Farage said the British public would be “horrified” when they “wake up” to the deal that has been negotiated and said his party can affect proceedings in the new British Parliament.
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