Downing Street clarifies that it ‘doesn’t need’ Nigel Farage in talks on UK-US relations
The British Prime Minister’s office has clarified over speculation that Nigel Farage would have an official capacity in talks on UK-US relations.
Farage spoke on TalkRadio to which he dialled in to say he would step in as an intermediary between President-elect Donald Trump and Theresa May last week.
Or rather he said he’d be the “responsible adult” who would tell Trump “don’t touch” the British Prime Minister.
But Number 10 has now clarified that he would not be the “third person” in the relationship between May and Trump.
The former Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind spoke to Sky’s All Out Politics to say the British Government “doesn’t need” Farage.
The interim UKIP leader at the weekend became the first British politician to officially meet Trump.
Rifkind said: “In terms of is he a serious interlocutor between the Government and the President-elect, the British Government doesn’t need him.
“The Prime Minister has already had a conversation with the President, the President has invited her to Washington, the President has already made clear that even amongst Western countries, the United Kingdom is the country he feels closest to for obvious reasons.”
Of a photo of Trump meeting Farage at the weekend, Sir Malcolm added: “That photograph you’re looking at just now was two celebrities meeting together.
“He wasn’t invited by Mr Trump to come to New York, he arrived at Trump Tower and said ‘could I see him’.
“And of course having appeared as a strong supporter during the presidential campaign, Trump agreed to see him.
“From a celebrity point of view it was a coup.”
Discussing the first meeting of Trump and May in their official capacities, Farage said last week: “[David] Cameron schmoozed Theresa. Don’t touch her for goodness sake.”
He had been asked about allegations of sexual assault, which had plagued Trump’s Presidential campaign.
Listen to the audio below, via the Guardian:
As Farage made his joke, the First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon made her position on Donald Trump’s upcoming Presidency quite clear.
She said she would not observe a “diplomatic silence” over issues of racism, misogyny or other intolerance from the President Elect.
Sturgeon made it clear that she would “engage positively and constructively with the American administration”, but would “never shy away from standing up for these important principles”.
But she warned that she would “never shy away from standing up for these important principles”.
Sturgeon in June condemned comments made by Donald Trump in the wake of the Orlando massacre.
She consistently criticised the divisiveness of his campaign to be elected as President.
Back in 2015, she stripped him of his position as ambassador for Scottish businesses.
