Sir Kim Darroch: Flattery exposed as fakery after deeply embarrassing Trump memo leak
While appeals to Trump's ego were probably viewed by his team with quiet scepticism, they've now been revealed as pure fakery.
Monday 8 July 2019 07:10, UK
A UK ambassador to the US is basically tasked with maintaining that old cliche - the "special relationship".
Sir Kim Darroch has had a challenging tenure with an unpredictable President Trump interfering on Brexit and criticising the UK.
One of his strategies to keep things sweet has been flattery - as Darroch advised officials in the leaked cables: "You need to start praising him (Trump) for something he's done recently."
While those appeals to Trump's ego were probably viewed by his administration with some quiet scepticism, they've now been revealed as pure fakery after a leak of damaging memos.
Trump's reaction to the insults suggests he and his team were never fans of Darroch who he says has "not served the UK well".
The Trump administration is wise enough to know that countries around the world may not fully believe the flattery they bestow upon the US president - but this blasts through it in incredibly stark fashion.
It's deeply embarrassing for the ambassador - who the leak was clearly aimed to hurt.
Even in casual conversation with journalists Darroch is very much on message.
My recent off-the-record chat with him was all talk of building relations with a view to a good post-Brexit trade deal. This flies in the face of those efforts.
Ultimately - with Darroch's tenure due to end soon anyway - all this only really hurts the UK.
A Foreign Office statement says they are confident that the "strong relations with the White House" can "withstand such mischievous behaviour".
They're obviously trying to play this down - they know the current White House will not like this at all.
It exists in a culture where flattery and compliments are mandatory - it is likely that behind the scenes they are now in overdrive in a desperate attempt to repair the damage.