Not long time ago, while paying an official state visit to the UK, US President Donald Trump spared no fine words or gestures to praise the uniquely good relationships between the US and the UK. But now his anger over the UK seemed to be limitless. The reason was leaks of confidential dispatches by UK's ambassador to the US to the media revealing his assessments of Mr. Trump and the US administration which Mr. Trump must have considered a attack on his integrity and capacity as president of the United States.
Great Britain’s Ambassador to the United States Sir Kim Darroch. Photo: Getty Images
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But the trouble is still not yet over and the relations between the UK and the US have already been immensely damaged.
The ambassador has the duty to report the truth and his true assessments on his host country to his government. Therefore the British ambassador to the US should not be criticized when he reported his true thinking and assessments of Mr. Trump and the US administration to his government. But the leaking is fatal for both the British government and Mr. Trump personally. It is also fatal for the diplomatic services. Information leak like this undermined the necessary working conditions for diplomats in the world. For the diplomatic world, it is a very strong warning. For the governments of all nations in the world, it pointed out the need of absolutely securing secret dispatches and communications of their diplomats.
The UK is now facing the election of a new prime minister to replace Mrs. May and build a new government. As the relations with the US have been considered by the UK as most important, the first challenge for the new British government and the new British prime minister, either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt, would be to repair the damages and to restore the traditionally good, close and trustful bilateral relations. And it will be not be an easy task.
Looking from other perspective, these leaks offer an opportunity for the public to see and assess Mr. Trump and his administration with other eyes and from other angles. And it was just another reason (among many others) why Mr. Trump has been aggressively attacking the UK ambassador, Mrs. May, the UK and its government.
