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Sir Kim Darroch told Boris Johnson
that he shared the blame for his
resignation as Britain’s ambassador in
Washington after a leak of diplomatic
cables disparaging President Trump.
The former ambassador takes his
revenge on the prime minister in The
Times Magazine today with the first
part of a serialisation detailing his ab-
rupt exit 14 months ago from Britain’s
most important diplomatic posting.
He urges Mr Johnson to call off
“unprecedented” attacks on senior civil
servants and questions Dominic Cum-
mings’s efforts to shake up Whitehall at
a time when the UK faces the twin chal-
lenges of Brexit and the coronavirus.
In his book, Collateral Damage, Lord
Darroch reveals Mr Johnson’s desper-
ate attempts to evade the blame for his
departure from the Washington post.
He says Mr Johnson was “fascinated”
by the president’s political techniques.
For his part Mr Trump regarded Mr
Johnson as a “kindred spirit”, according
to the former ambassador. Lord Dar-
roch’s most damaging claim is that Mr
Johnson helped to force him out of his
job at a time when he was under attack
from Mr Trump, whom the envoy had
termed “inept” in a diplomatic cable.
Mr Johnson, then running for the
Conservative leadership, repeatedly re-
fused to say that he would keep him in
post during a TV debate between rival
candidates on July 9, 2019, in contrast to
Jeremy Hunt, his opponent.
The civil servant, who resigned the
following day, told Mr Johnson that he
was in part to blame after the politician
called to question why he had quit.
In an interview with The Times
Magazine Lord Darroch says: “He
sounded just like Boris Johnson sounds
— starting and then restarting sen-
tences. Very Boris. He said, ‘But why did
you resign? Wouldn’t it all have blown
over after a few weeks?’ ” In answer to
Mr Johnson’s question as to whetherI told Johnson he was to
blame, says fallen envoy
Francis Elliott Political Editor the resignation was his fault, he told
him that “in part it was”.
Lord Darroch says that Mr Johnson
was “intrigued by Trump’s limited vo-
cabulary, the simplicity of the messag-
ing, the disdain for political correct-
ness, the sometimes incendiary imag-
ery, and the at best intermittent
relationship with facts and the truth”.
Asked if Mr Johnson has modelled
himself on the US president, the former
ambassador said: “If you go back
through the current prime minister’s
history, he’s often said quite striking
things. And he never apologises. So,
Boris might have done this anyway, but
certainly, having watched Trump in
action, he wouldn’t have been put off.”
Mr Johnson was “warm” towards
Steve Bannon during visits to Washing-
ton as foreign secretary, exchanging
numbers and emails with the aide, who
left Mr Trump’s White House and faces
trial on fraud charges, which he denies.
Lord Darroch relates that on one
visit Mr Johnson’s then press aide came
back in high spirits and, after a problem
with his key, attempted to break into the
ambassador’s residence via a flat roof.
He was spotted on CCTV, apprehended
by security and escorted to his room,
where he vomited on the carpet.
Lord Darroch, who took his seat in
the Lords as a crossbencher in January,
was national security adviser in 2012-15.
Sir Mark Sedwill, a successor in the role,
has left government along with several
other senior civil servants after “a sort of
trial by briefing to newspapers”, he says.
“Civil servants can’t go out and say
what they think, so it’s a free hit for
those doing the briefing. I believe it
could be stopped if senior ministers
were to say, ‘You have to stop doing this.’
With all the challenges in this period in
history — Brexit on top of the virus on
top of other stuff — is civil service
reform really the biggest priority? We’ll
see how it looks in three or four years.”
Interview, Magazine
Matthew Parris, page 27National Statistics (ONS) reported yes-
terday that infection rates were flat,
which could be because they were fall-
ing in the elderly while rising in the
young. Matt Hancock, the health secre-
tary, said that the ONS data was a reas-
suring sign that the government’s
measures were “supporting the country
to safely return to normal”.
Mr Hancock is cautious about rely-
ing on keeping cases among the under-
40s, after France reported a rise in hos-
pital admissions weeks after cases in
the young increased. “It’s obviously
good news that we are not seeing hospi-
talisations but too early to be drawing
policy conclusions,” a source said.
Last week 2,042 cases were con-
firmed in people in their twenties, more
than ten times the number among
over-80s. While cases are lower in all
ages than in the spring, they are still
falling in the elderly while they started
rising in younger people from July.
Sir David Spiegelhalter, professor of
public understanding of risk at the
University of Cambridge, said that the
change in age profile in infections was
“quite extraordinary”. He said that the
age shift was “affected by testing
availability, but also a shift in who is in-
fected”. He added: “The elderly and frail
seem to be far better protected than
they were at the start of the epidemic,
but they need to be able to get their
freedom back.”
Coronavirus latest, pages 12-Boris Johnson has appointed Tony
Abbott as a trade adviser despite
pressure to drop the former Australian
prime minister because of sexism and
homophobia allegations.
Mr Abbott will advise the Board of
Trade along with several other figures
taking unpaid roles to help the UK
build new commercial ties after Brexit.
His appointment was first mooted
almost a week ago but Downing Street
failed to confirm the role as protests
grew over Mr Abbott’s contentious
views and remarks in the past.
Critics have raised numerous
concerns including his climate change
scepticism and his belief that Covid-
restrictions should be lifted.
He has previously said that he feels “a
bit threatened” by homosexuality, has
opposed same-sex marriage and was
accused of misogyny by Julia Gillard, a
fellow former prime minister.
Christine Forster, his sister, defended
him yesterday. “As a woman who has
always been part of his life and who
came out to him as gay in my early 40s,
I know incontrovertibly that Tony is
neither of those things,” she wrote on
Twitter.
“In reality he is a man of great
conviction and intellect; an unabashedTony Abbott is handed trade
role despite misogyny claims
Francis Elliott Political Editor conservative but with great
compassion, respect for others, and an
indelible sense of doing what is right.”
Mr Johnson defended Mr Abbott and
said that he could not be expected to
agree with the views of every person
advising the government.
He claimed that the UK would
“prosper mightily” even if talks over a
trade deal with the EU collapsed.
“What I would say about Tony
Abbott is that this is a guy who waselected by the people of the great liberal
democratic nation of Australia,” the
prime minister said. “It’s an amazing
country, it’s a freedom-loving country,
it’s a liberal country. There you go, I
think that speaks for itself.”
The Board of Trade insisted that its
advisers will have “no direct role in
striking trade deals”. The UK is looking
to agree its own trade agreements for
the first time in more than 40 years
after leaving the EU in January.
It is conducting negotiations with theUS, Japan, New Zealand and Australia
where Mr Abbott, an ex-leader of the
Liberal Party, was prime minister from
2013 to 2015.
Liz Truss, the trade secretary, said:
“The new Board of Trade will play an
important role in [making] the case for
free and fair trade. At a time of in-
creased protectionism and global
insecurity, it’s vital that the UK is a
strong voice for open markets and that
we play a meaningful role in reshaping
global trading rules alongside like-
minded countries.
“The new board will help us do that,
bringing together a diverse group of
people who share Britain’s belief in free
enterprise, democracy, and high
standards and rules-based trade.”
David Lammy, the shadow justice
secretary, tweeted: “Earlier in the week
the government as much as admitted
Tony Abbott is a homophobe and a
misogynist. They just don’t care.”
Patricia Hewitt, the Australian-born
former Labour cabinet minister, will sit
alongside Mr Abbott in the advisory
team. Other members include Anne
Boden, the chief executive of Fintech,
Daniel Hannan, the former Tory MEP
and Brexit campaigner, Michael Lie-
breich, an energy transition adviser,
and Dr Linda Yueh, an economist at
Oxford University.Tony Abbott said
he felt threatened
by homosexualitycontinued from page 1
Virus shifts to young
Covid cases by age group
As a proportion of all cases recorded
each week Data for England onlyUnder 20 20 to 39 40 to 59
60 to 79 Over 80
Apr May JunJul AugSep
100%
80
60
40
20
0
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‘Struggle’ to find
comics on right
The producer of Have I
Got News For You has
responded to claims of
BBC bias by saying
that the show struggles
to find right-wing
comedians. Page 11Amazon inquiry
into reviewers
Airbnb couple in
weight limit row
A couple who imposed
a weight limit on
people staying in an
Airbnb cottage blamed
“snowflakes” after it
was removed from the
website. Page 5
Pearson set for
investor clash
Pearson, the world’s
biggest education
publisher, faces an
investor backlash over
a $9 million “golden
hello” for its new chief
executive. Page 49Return to office,
officials are told
The head of the civil
service has told
officials that working
from home risks
limiting “innovation
and sustained common
purpose”. Page 12
FOLLOW US
thetimes timesandsundaytimes thetimesAmazon is looking into
its most prolific British
product reviewers in
response to claims that
they are profiting from
posting thousands of
five-star-ratings. Page 6COMMENT 27
LEADING ARTICLES 31REGISTER 78
CROSSWORD 83TV & RADIO
SATURDAY REVIEWBiden accused
over violence
President Trump
accused his election
rival Joe Biden of
“appeasing domestic
terrorists” as US cities
prepared for further
unrest. Pages 42-TODAY’S EDITION
Today’s
highlights
Listen for free DAB | Smart speaker | Online at times.radio | Times Radio app
10am Finding political balance in comedy with comedians
Simon Evans and Andrew Doyle
3.30pm Broadcaster and writer Nina Schick on deep fakes
6pm Ayesha Hazarika speaks to former
Downing Street spinner Alastair Campbell, right,on living with depression
7pm Former chief executive of Marks and Spencer
Lord Rose opens up about his
mother’s depression and suicide10.30pm A first look at Sunday’s
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