In their new book Anthony Seldon and Raymond Newell reveal how the relationship between the then-president and prime minister turned sour
Boris Johnson loved America since his childhood years there, but had been disappointed not to have made more of an impression on the country as foreign secretary when Obama was still president for his first seven months. “He couldn’t really warm to John Kerry [Obama’s secretary of state], who he found too controlled, too humourless and too work-focused,” says Simon McDonald, former head of the Foreign Office. On Kerry’s side, he found Johnson incomprehensible, “Baffling, very, very English public school, trying to be funny, starting down one track then changing to another”, says an insider. Johnson’s staff winced with embarrassment. Had he asked how to create a better impression, they might have told him: “Think through before what you want to say. Stop trying to make jokes and be more serious.” But Johnson didn’t ask, it was not his way, and carried on making the same mistakes.
Trump’s victory against Hilary Clinton in the November 2016 presidential election created an opportunity for a fresh start, but also a quandary. “The only reason I wouldn’t go to some parts of New York is the real risk of meeting Donald Trump,” Johnson had said in December 2015 after Trump called for Muslims to be banned from the United States to ensure the country does not end up with “radicalised” no-go areas “like London”. Trump, he concluded, was “unfit” to hold the office of president of the United States.
Trump’s team, though, were persistent: “We want to meet Johnson”. Eventually No 10 conceded, and Johnson duly came to New York for a meeting in Trump Tower with Steve Bannon, Jared Kushner and Steve Miller. One condition for No 10 allowing Johnson to come was the understanding that Trump would be safely tucked away in his Palm Beach resort of Mar-a-Lago. But Kim Darroch, the British ambassador, could not be “stone cold certain” that he was indeed there and spent the meeting in a cold sweat that he might suddenly burst through the doors, creating a major diplomatic embarrassment.
Johnson was cock-a-hoop after the visit, praising Trump’s “exciting agenda for change”. “He sensed there was something in the way the new president did business that he liked, how he connected with voters, never apologised and dominated the 24-hour news cycle which gave him ideas about becoming a national leader,” says an official. He hit it off particularly with Bannon, Trump’s maverick strategist, who intrigued him: they exchanged mobile numbers and in the following months, behind No 10’s back, regular texts flowed between them. Johnson was reminded by his officials that Bannon had extensive contacts with the far right in Europe, but “it didn’t seem to concern him”, according to one. Johnson acknowledged there was something distasteful about “the Trumpies”. But something beguiling and fascinating as well.
Trump too was intrigued by Johnson. “It was obvious to us that Trump liked him, loved the Churchill patter, and saw him as a mini-me, all a bit awkward for Boris,” said one of his London team, especially when Trump started integrating some of Johnson’s words into his speeches. Their superficial similarities were much commented upon.
Apart from Bannon, Johnson kept in touch with Trump’s son-in-law Kushner and speech-writer Miller. But his relationship with Trump himself dwindled after he resigned as foreign secretary. Trump meanwhile had been appallingly rude to May, was glad to see her go, and continued to be rude with offensive impressions of her down the telephone to Johnson. Both laughed.
When Johnson became prime minister Trump could barely conceal his elation at a potential alliance of the two leaders who, in his own mind, embodied the rise of right-wing populism in the West. He breezed through the black door of No 10 for their first proper conversation on December 3, 2019. He heaped blandishments on his host, telling him in front of his officials, “We’ve got the world by the balls, Boris: what can we do?” The president treated him like a fellow campaigner and intimate friend. He knew Johnson was eager to reshape Britain’s position in the world. How could he help?
Reality was dawning on Johnson. He no longer had illusions about Trump’s help (“He’ll do us no favours,” he said), and didn’t want to hitch his wagon to a star that looked to be on the wane. Trump’s pro-Putin outburst at the G7 in Biarritz in August had shocked him greatly. He had also realised just how much of a liability Trump was to his brand domestically, and was cautious about encouraging further comparisons between the two as populist demagogues. Johnson had learnt too how to play him, his vanity and thin skin. “People really love you in the UK, Donald, ignore the media, they’ve got it all wrong,” he would say. Trump purred. “You are the most popular leader in the UK, the biggest thing,” Johnson told him. Johnson’s election managers had been spooked by the fear that the president would extol the virtues of privatising the NHS. The situation called for peak Johnson diplomacy: “Some people in my party and other parties might make mischief if you talk about doing that, Donald,” Johnson said to him on a call before their meeting in December 2019. “Let’s talk about it all you like in private when you’re here, but we can keep it to ourselves.”
Trump continued to be useful to Johnson throughout 2020 as the only leader in the free world supportive of Brexit. But Johnson’s admiration for his bombastic style had long since waned, and his underlying contempt for his opinions came to dominate. “He never thought Trump very bright and regarded him frankly as a bit thick. He thought his views on most subjects were bonkers and wasn’t remotely interested in what he had to say on any policy subject,” says an aide. Johnson was not unduly sentimental towards the concept of the special relationship, and thought Trump’s behaviour damaging to both America and the world, disliking the president’s tendency towards withdrawal, isolationism and protectionism.
Before long Trump was criticising Johnson’s decisions: “How on earth did you manage not to get a better deal from that drunk Juncker and the pack of socialists, Boris?” he demanded to know. “You should’ve ripped up the contract and played hardball with the Europeans.”
The relationship soured further after a furious call over the UK’s decision to allow Chinese company Huawei to help build its 5G network. Trump was apoplectic and swore down the phone at Johnson before “abruptly ending the call”, an aide recalls.
The two leaders rubbed along for the rest of the year, but gone was Trump’s notion that he and Johnson could remake the world, while the prime minister, with the increasing likelihood that his first full year in office would be the president’s last, was not sorry that Covid shredded their personal contact.
Johnson was mightily relieved that the man on whom he had once pinned such high hopes lost the presidential election in November 2020. He was then very quick to condemn the riot on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021, all of which incensed Trump. To him, Johnson became just another traitor who had let him and the cause down.
Source: The Times
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