Why are people attacking the UK’s ambassador to the US over leaked memos?
Boris Johnson and Kim Darroch: One of these men is a competent diplomat and the other is a buffoon who rarely thinks before speaking. Which is which?
The Western Hemisphere seems to be losing the plot over Kim Darroch, the UK’s ambassador to the United States.
It seems he described US president Donald Trump as “incompetent” and “insecure”, and his administration as “inept” and “uniquely dysfunctional” in diplomatic memoranda that were not meant to become public knowledge.
Mr Trump has made a fuss, saying Sir Kim should be removed from office because “he is not well thought-of in the US. We will no longer deal with him”.
He has been supported by his good buddy Nigel Farage, who has called for the senior diplomat to be sacked.
It seems the leak was carried out in revenge for the ambassador’s alleged failure to promote a pro-Brexit UK.
Messrs Trump and Farage also seem well-briefed on this aspect of it, after the information was given to pro-Brexit hack Isabel Oakeshott.
Mr Trump tweeted:
….thought of within the U.S. We will no longer deal with him. The good news for the wonderful United Kingdom is that they will soon have a new Prime Minister. While I thoroughly enjoyed the magnificent State Visit last month, it was the Queen who I was most impressed with!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 8, 2019
The operative part is “I have been very critical about the way the UK and Prime Minister Theresa May handled Brexit. What a mess she and her representatives have created. I told her how it should be done, but she decided to go another way.”
And Mr Farage said a future government under Boris Johnson, the Tory leadership front-runner, would be expected to remove Sir Kim: “If you take Boris at his word, people like Kim Darroch simply shouldn’t be around.”
How very unprofessional of them.
The simple fact is that it is Kim Darroch’s job to brief the UK government on his view of US political figures.
As a Foreign Office representative stated: “The British public would expect our ambassadors to provide ministers with an honest, unvarnished assessment of the politics in their country.”
The fault lies with the Brexiteer (presumably) who leaked the memos – not with the ambassador.
And that is why (for a change) I find myself agreeing with Conservative politicians.
I agree with Liam Fox, who said: “Malicious leaks of this nature are unprofessional. They are unethical. And they are unpatriotic. Because they can actually lead to damage to that relationship which can, therefore, affect our security interests.
“I will be apologising for the fact that either our civil service, or elements of our political class, have not lived up to the expectations that either we have, or the United States has, about their behaviour, which in this particular case has lapsed in a most extraordinary and unacceptable way.”
At the time of writing – and to the best of my knowledge – Boris Johnson, who has been treated favourably by both Mr Trump and Mr Farage, has yet to comment on this matter.
Was this all a stunt to make BoJob look useful on the international stage?
Source: Theresa May has ‘full faith’ in Kim Darroch but rejects his view of Trump | Politics | The Guardian
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The ‘patriotic’ Daily Mail made the choice to publish this leak. I’m still trying to work out how this decision to publish was in the public interest.
It would be quite a stunt if it managed to make Boris look useful on ANY stage!
Anyone who can’t see this as sheer political manipulation needs to open their eyes.
Also, given that Trump who has to cower behind a bullet-proof screen to address his own people appears to bear out Sir Kim’s criticisms.
Because nobody stops to think, these days. Everybody is on the attack, too eager to criticise, often, without knowledge of the facts, or even a clue. Bandwagon. Mob mentality. Discourse is dead. Of course Donald Trump will be upset but is it unreasonable to expect the holder of the highest office in the land to be insecure? When you are the top, there’s only one way for you and that’s down and there will be plenty of people to help you on your way. His response, although logical, is unreasonable and ill judged. Nigel Farage? Who?
As for the person who leaked the memorandum… Och, for shame but that’s an antiquated concept, along, it seems, with professional integrity.
Clearly the truth hurts these nasty and incompetent right wing fanatical bigots.
They are conservatives, they eat and chew at each other because they know nothing else, to get to the top you must, well, destroy your opponent or bend over. It’s a shame they can’t just be humane and think of what damage they are doing, but then, conservatives don’t care about ordinary folk, the ones that pay their taxes that pays their wages, do they?
This country is heading for hell and generations will suffer because of selfishness.