A Chaotic Affair
President Donald Trump's phone conversations with the two British prime ministers who served during his first term were reportedly chaotic and unpredictable, leaving staff at Number 10 Downing Street in tears.
According to a report in Politico, any conversation between Trump and the two occupants of Number 10 from 2017 to 2021 – Theresa May and Boris Johnson – were appointment listening for civil servants and other aides. Staff would gather in a secure room or the prime minister's private study to hear them speak with the American leader.
One former Downing Street source described the conversations as "extraordinary" and "brilliant" – the latter meant more sarcastically – and said those who were present were "there with tears [of] laughter" because the calls were "hilarious."
Another former British government official said any planned agenda for the arranged call between the two leaders would "quite quickly fall by the wayside" because Trump would simply change the subject to whatever was on his mind.
Trump would reportedly go off on wide-ranging and long-winded tangents on a variety of subjects close to his heart but not exactly germane to the Anglo-American Special Relationship, including his hatred of wind turbines, his Scottish golf property, or matters that prime ministers simply could not discuss because they were the subject of court proceedings.
"They were never what you wanted them to be about, broadly. If you were calling about trade or Israel or something, it would always go off beam," said another former government official, who added that the American president would go so far as to ask about the health of Queen Elizabeth II.
Trump famously got on well with the second of two prime ministers during his term, Boris Johnson, with whom he is understood to have felt a kindred spirit because both men were seen as disrupters and outsiders.
He did not have feelings quite as warm for Johnson's predecessor May, who was the second woman in history to lead the British government.
According to former Trump administration sources, the rift was due to May's cautious attitude towards the U.K.'s exit from the European Union, plus Trump's decidedly retrograde attitude towards women in general.
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