Seven go surfing
Brigitte Macron,
Melania Trump,
Akie Abe and
Malgorzata Tusk
are seen laughing
as they visit a surf
club during their
tour of Basque
country. The
women, also joined
by Jenny Morrison,
wife of Australia’s
prime minister
Scott, Cecilia
Morel, the first lady
of Chile, and Adele
Malpass, wife of
David Malpass, the
president of the
world bank, met
with young surfers
in a seaside town
following a day
that included wine
tasting and a tour of
Espelette yesterday.Trump: What took you so long, Boris?
By Charles Hymas, Edward Malnick
and Helena HortonDONALD TRUMP said he had been
waiting six years for Boris Johnson to
become Prime Minister, revealing that
he told him: “What took you so long?”
He promised he would not “do over”
the UK in post-Brexit trade talks as he
lavished praise on Mr Johnson as a
“very smart”, “very strong” politician
who would be a great Prime Minister.
“I think his time is right, it’s the right
time for Boris,” he told a closing press
conference at the Biarritz G7 summit.
The US president contrasted his evi-
dent bonhomie with Mr Johnson withhis relationship with Theresa May, sug-
gesting that her decision to reject his
advice on Brexit ultimately led to her
being ousted from Downing Street.
“Theresa was unable to do the deal. I
gave her my ideas as to doing the deal
very early. She chose to do it her way
and that didn’t work out so well,” he
said, adding she was a “good” woman.
Recalling Mrs May’s rough experi-
ence at the hands of Brussels, however,
Mr Trump cautioned whether Mr
Johnson would be able to secure a
Brexit deal with the EU, whose negoti-
ating was “very tough”.
“I deal with the EU – it’s a very strong
group of people, they have their ideas
and they’re not easy to deal with, I will
tell you. The EU is very tough to make
deals with – just ask Theresa May.”
Mr Trump’s press conference came
moments before Mr Johnson held his
own to mark the end of his first appear-
ance on the world stage at a G7 summit.“I really believe that Boris Johnson
will be a great Prime Minister,” said Mr
Trump. “We really like each other. And
we had a great two and a half days. I
have been waiting for him to be Prime
Minister for about six years.
“I told him, ‘what took you so long’. I
think he is going to be a great Prime
Minister and especially after spending
a lot of intense time with him ... he is
very smart, he is very strong and he is
very enthusiastic.”
Asked if he intended to “do over” the
UK in a trade deal, Mr Trump replied:
“No, no, no. I love the UK. I own great
property in the UK. I love the UK.”
On Sunday, Mr Trump promised a
“very big trade deal” with the UK,
which he said would happen “quickly”,
potentially within a year – a timetable
Mr Johnson admitted “would be tight”.
Asked if a UK or Europe alliance
would be more important for the US,
the president replied: “Both.”Meanwhile, Scott Morrison, the Aus-
tralian prime minister, said a UK-Aus-
tralia trade deal could be done within a
year. Responding to Mr Johnson’s indi-
cation that a post-Brexit US deal could
take more than a year, Scott Morrison
said: “I would like to think we can
move quicker than that.”
He added: “At the end of the day it’s
got to be in our interests. We are not
going to sign up to something we don’t
think helps us and neither will they.”
Mr Johnson later said he wanted to
avoid “quick” deals that failed to “max-
imise the opportunities for the UK”.
During the G7, Mr Johnson told
Shinzō Abe, Japan’s prime minister,
that his decision to resume commercial
whaling was “disappointing”.
Carrie Symonds, Mr Johnson’s part-
ner, has campaigned for some time
on the issue in her role as head of
communications for Oceana, the
conservation NGO.US president heaps praise
on ‘smart’ Johnson as hepromises ‘very big trade
deal’, possibly within a yearJohnson lines up ‘overlooked’ Brexit allies for House of Lords seats
By Edward Malnick
in BiarritzBORIS JOHNSON is prepar-
ing to appoint half a dozen
pro-Brexit supporters to the
House of Lords, as he faces
down parliamentarians overBritain’s departure from the
EU and his spending plans.
A senior source said the
Prime Minister was plan-
ning to ennoble a group of
previously “overlooked” fig-
ures to help “restore the bal-
ance” in the upper chamber.Mr Johnson’s aides are ex-
pecting a series of running
battles with the Commons
and Lords in the autumn as
he attempts to roll out do-
mestic legislation following
the UK’s planned exit from
the EU on Oct 31. Pro-Re-main peers hijacked Theresa
May’s Brexit legislation in
several attempts to keep the
UK closely tied to the EU.
The source said Mr John-
son was planning to appoint
allies “who have been looked
over in the past” for places inthe Lords, in an honours list
expected after Brexit.
Those touted as possible
candidates include Gerard
Lyons, the pro-Brexit econo-
mist who has been inter-
viewed for the role of Bank
of England governor.The disclosure comes af-
ter The Daily Telegraph re-
vealed last month that Gavin
Barwell, Theresa May’s chief
of staff, was expected to be
appointed to the Lords in a
resignation honours list due
to be published imminently.‘We really
like eachother... I have
been waiting
for him tobe Prime
Minister forabout six
years’No 10 denies porky
pies over Melton
Mowbray exports
By Edward Malnick and
Charles Hymas
DOWNING STREET has dis-
missed claims that Boris
Johnson was wrong when he
claimed Melton Mowbray
pies could be exported to
Thailand and Iceland.
The Prime Minister was
also backed by Britain’s big-
gest distributor of the pies.
Walker and Son, however,
stopped exporting the pies
to concentrate on the UK
market, even though it has
developed freezing technol-
ogy so they can be kept fresh
for at least a year.
The war of words over the
Leicester delicacy blew up
after Matthew O’Callaghan,
the chairman of the Melton
Mowbray Pork Pie Associa-
tion, claimed that Mr John-
son was wrong to say that
the UK exports the pies to
Thailand and Iceland when
it is unable to do so to the US.
Mr Johnson had cited
Melton Mowbray pork pies
to Donald Trump as an ex-
ample of products that UK
firms were unable to sell to
the US due to “very consid-
erable” red tape and tariffs.
He wants the US president
to remove barriers as part of
a post-Brexit trade deal.
Asked by the BBC if Mr
Johnson was right, Mr
O’Callaghan replied: “Not re-
ally. We don’t actually ex-
port to Thailand or Iceland.”
When pressed again, he
said: “Not that I know of, I’m
afraid. It is certainly availa-
ble in Iceland the shop.
“You’ve got the G7, the
Iran crisis, the Amazon
burning, China and Russia,
and all the rest of it, and up
pops Boris with Melton
Mowbray pork pie. Good for
him. I mean, great product,
and why not?”
A senior Government offi-
cial said the information that
Walker and Son had sold
pies in Iceland and Thailand
had come from the British
American business group.
“It certainly has exported
to them,” he said.
A spokesman for Walker
and Son confirmed they had
exported a tiny number of
pies to countries, including
Iceland and the Far East, but
said the company had taken
a “strategic” decision a cou-ple of years ago to switch to
focus on the UK market.
Melton Mowbray pork
pies are distinctive as they
are made from uncured
pork, to ensure the inside is
grey in colour.
The pie has special pro-
tected geographical status
under EU rules, meaning
that only producers making
pork pies using the tradi-
tional recipe and in the vi-
cinity of Melton Mowbray
can use the town’s name.
Mr O’Callaghan said there
was a possibility that pies
could be exported frozen to
the US or Australia and
cooked in the country.
Sir Alan Duncan, the MP
for Rutland and Melton,
tweeted his support for the
opportunity to export the fa-
mous food to the US.‘Up pops Boris with
Melton Mowbray
pork pie. Good. It’s a
great product’The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 27 August 2019 *** 5
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