GO AD-FREE. Get 2 Months Digital Subscription for ONLY £1! Use code 2FOR1
GET STARTEDMore on KentOnline
GO AD-FREE. Get 2 Months Digital Subscription for ONLY £1! Use code 2FOR1
GET STARTEDMore on KentOnline
An MP says police should investigate a highly damaging leak of emails by the UK’s American ambassador in which he described President Trump’s administration as inept.
Tonbridge and Malling MP Tom Tugendhat, who chairs the Foreign Affairs select committee, was responding to the idea the leaks had “all the hallmarks of a senior politician.”
He tweeted: “Sadly this rings true. And that makes the betrayal all the more serious.
"How can officials give honest advice to politicians if it is stored and leaked for petty point-scoring?
"This is deeply damaging to the integrity of the UK and must be investigated by the police immediately.”
Former Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon, MP for Sevenoaks, rejected the suggestion the ambassador should be sacked but agreed the leaked emails should be properly investigated.
He said: “This can be put right and Boris Johnson’s relationship with the president is strong enough to smooth over any particular hurt that he has and put the relationship back on track.”
He said the decision on how the leak inquiry was conducted was a matter for the Cabinet Secretary.
He added: "We should remind ourselves that ambassadors are paid to report fairly on the strengths and weaknesses of foreign governments, and there certainly were weaknesses when the Trump government originally came into office.”
President Trump said the ambassador, Kim Darroch, had “not served the UK well” by dispatching memos to officials in London in which Trump’s White House was also described as “uniquely dysfunctional.”
Read more: All the latest news from Malling
