WASHINGTON – The UK Foreign Office confirmed on Wednesday that Britain’s ambassador to the United States, Kim Darroch has resigned, days after diplomatic cables criticizing President Donald Trump were leaked.
The former ambassador said in a letter on Wednesday that even though his posting was due to end this year, he believed “in the current circumstances the responsible course is to allow the appointment of a new ambassador”.
“I am also grateful to all those with whom I have worked over the last four decades, particularly my team here in the US. The professionalism and integrity of the British civil service is the envy of the world. I will leave it full of confidence that its values remain in safe hands,” he said in the resignation letter.
Prime Minister Theresa May termed the resignation, a “matter of regret”.
Darroch’s blunt views on the US administration which were meant for a limited audience and discreet review appeared in leaked diplomatic documents published in Britain’s Mail on Sunday newspaper and stirred a storm, with President Trump terming the individual, Wacky.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1148559442885185536
The controversy relates to the memos sent to the British government which date from 2017 to the present, in which Darroch said Trump ‘radiates insecurity’ while advising officials in London that to deal with him effectively “you need to make your points simple, even blunt”.
“We don’t really believe this administration is going to become substantially more normal; less dysfunctional; less unpredictable; less faction riven; less diplomatically clumsy and inept,” Darroch wrote in one, according to the newspaper.
After the documents made headlines, Trump declared he would cut contact with the diplomat branding him as “a very stupid guy”.
