“Every day we’re learning more and more new facts about the realities of Brexit, and though Boris Johnson
won’t admit it, it’s a million miles away from the promises he and his fellow leave campaigners were making
during the referendum.”
Mr Johnson’s arrival in 10 Downing Street was warmly welcomed by Mr Trump, and the pair have already
spoken by phone five times in little more than a month of his premiership.
But tensions are already beginning to show over Mr Johnson’s determination to be a champion of free trade,
with the PM warning Mr Trump last night that he risked being blamed for a potential global recession if he
continued to escalate his trade war with China.
Mr Johnson shied away from accepting the mantle of “Britain’s Trump” bestowed on him immediately after
his election as Conservative leader.
Asked whether he took the title as a compliment, he said only: “I was born in the United States. I think the
most important thing for any prime minister of the UK is to have a very close friendly relationship with our
most important ally and that’s what I intend to promote.”
But, despite recent polls suggesting that as few as 21 per cent of UK voters have a favourable view of Mr
Trump compared with 67 per cent who see him unfavourably, Mr Johnson suggested that there was an
underlying appreciation of the US president in Britain.
Asked if Mr Trump was more popular in the UK than people think, he replied: “That’s very likely. President
Trump has pioneered a quite remarkable way of communicating directly with the electorate. My impression
is that is also popular with large numbers of people in our country.”
Unlike Mr Trump, who has travelled to Biarritz with wife Melania, Mr Johnson was not accompanied by his
partner Carrie Symonds to the summit, where leaders’ spouses have their own programme of events. He
declined to respond to queries about the decision that Ms Symonds would not attend.