BORIS Johnson has risked deepening tensions with Donald Trump by scrapping a visit to America next month to see him. The US President is desperate to seal a trade deal with Britain before his re-election campaign begins in the Autumn. Mr Trump wants to begin trade talks with the PM during a high profile visit […]
BORIS Johnson has risked deepening tensions with Donald Trump by scrapping a visit to America next month to see him.
The US President is desperate to seal a trade deal with Britain before his re-election campaign begins in the Autumn.
Mr Trump wants to begin trade talks with the PM during a high profile visit to the White House.
But the PM has repeatedly delayed the trip, which was expected in January, then later this month.
It has now been decided to suspend any meeting between Boris and the president altogether until June, when the PM is due at Trump’s official retreat Camp David for a summit of G7 leaders.
Confirming the cancellation, No10 sources insisted it was because the PM is determined to stay in No10 to drive through his domestic agenda.
They also insisted it is not intended as a snub to Mr Trump, despite a series of run-ins between the two men recently.
The close ally also adamantly denied one rumour circulating around No10 that that it was because Boris wanted to remain by live-in girlfriend Carrie Symonds’s side amid concerns she may have a health condition.
Using a Lord of the Rings analogy, a senior Downing Street figure told The Sun: “Levelling up the country, making the streets safe and sorting out the NHS is why the PM won the election.
“When the Eye of Sauron is off the Whitehall machine, things stop working.
“That is why he has stripped down all his foreign travel this year to get his agenda done.”
But the move runs the risk of angering Mr Trump further after a bitter run-in between the pair over the PM’s controversial decision to allow Chinese telecoms giant to help build the 5G network.
They also clashed over US’s refusal to extradite the alleged killer of teen biker Harry Dunn, and Iran.
Mr Johnson’s refusal to travel has alarmed some of his staff.
It can also be revealed that a possible trade trip to Australia and New Zealand has also been scrapped.
The PM also dispatched Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to Japan last week to discuss a trade deal instead of going himself.
Another No10 source said: “There is a lot of concern about this in the house.
“If we don’t do any trade tours this year, it’s going to effect the entire Brexit process. The PM is our best asset”.
