Boris Johnson to seek Trump deal in first move as PM

Boris Johnson plans to negotiate a trade deal with Donald Trump as one of his first acts as PM.

Boris Johnson will make a deal with the US key to hope for Brexit. Picture: AFP.

Boris Johnson wants to make resetting relations with President Trump one of his first acts in Downing Street by travelling to the US to negotiate a post-Brexit trade deal.

The former foreign secretary is ready to fly there as soon as possible if he wins the leadership contest to try to secure a limited agreement in time for his “do or die” deadline of October 31.

“The key to the whole thing is the US. If we get a trade deal with America we will be very quickly in the market for other deals. It encourages others to realise that we mean business,” an ally of Mr Johnson said.

Sir Kim Darroch, the British ambassador to Washington, resigned last week after leaked memos revealed that he had described Mr Trump’s administration as “clumsy and inept”. The president refused to work with him any longer and he stepped down hours after Mr Johnson refused to guarantee his future in a televised debate.

Allies of Mr Johnson said that he would meet Mr Trump in the US within two months of becoming prime minister. An official visit is being considered at about the time of the UN general assembly on September 17 but some believe he will visit even sooner.

In further developments yesterday:

— A criminal investigation into an alleged breach of the Official Secrets Act was under way amid claims that a suspected leaker had been identified.

— David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, said that Scotland Yard should remove Neil Basu, an assistant commissioner, from investigating the leak in favour of an officer who would put a free press before “the state’s reputation”.

— A second tranche of leaked cables from Sir Kim was published in which he described Mr Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal as “diplomatic vandalism” motivated by a desire to spite Barack Obama.

Under plans being discussed by Mr Johnson’s team he would strike a limited trade deal in “one area” of goods in time for October 31. He and Mr Trump would also establish the broad outlines of a fully fledged deal. “There is no question that the moment we leave on the 31st we should be in a position to get some kind of arrangement with the US,” the source said.

If he wins the Tory leadership contest Mr Johnson will be in Downing Street on July 24. Within days he is expected to travel to France and Germany to meet President Macron and Angela Merkel. “There will be a discussion of where he should go first, Paris or Berlin,” an ally said.

Mr Johnson and the US president speak warmly of each other at present, although they have traded barbs in the past. During his state visit to Britain last month Mr Trump requested a meeting with Mr Johnson, who said that he needed to focus on his leadership campaign. They spoke on the phone instead. Before the visit Mr Trump said that Mr Johnson was a “friend” for whom he had “a lot of respect”.

However, in 2015 when Mr Trump was a presidential candidate and claimed there were “no-go areas” in London because of Islamist extremism, Mr Johnson, then the mayor of London, said that he showed “a quite stupefying ignorance that makes him, frankly, unfit to hold the office of president of the United States”.

A spokesman for Mr Johnson said: “No plans have been made for anything other than winning this campaign and the immediate transition. That is where the focus is.”

Yesterday Jeremy Hunt, Mr Johnson’s leadership rival, said that a career diplomat should replace Sir Kim, despite some pushing for a rare political appointment. “I think that one of the best things about our diplomatic service are the skills acquired over many years by career diplomats, and Sir Kim Darroch exemplified that,” the foreign secretary said. “And we have some outstanding candidates who do have that experience, and we’ll obviously look at them.”

Theresa May is considering whether to appoint Sir Kim’s successor before she leaves Downing Street in less than ten days.

Mr Hunt is thought to have made it clear that if Mr Johnson won he would not accept a demotion, even to the Home Office, prompting allies of the frontrunner to consider sending him to the back benches.

One potential replacement as foreign secretary would be Amber Rudd, who has abandoned her opposition to a no-deal Brexit to smooth her path into Mr Johnson’s cabinet. Today Ms Rudd will give a speech on women’s interests in the workplace in Rome, speaking in Italian. She is thought to also speak French, German and passable Spanish.

Philip Hammond, the chancellor of the exchequer, vowed in a valedictory speech to civil servants last week to oppose a no-deal Brexit from the back benches, The Times has learnt. He is expected to become a vocal member of the anti-no-deal bloc on the Conservative benches. He is likely to be joined there by his fellow cabinet ministers David Gauke, the justice secretary, Rory Stewart, the international development secretary, and Greg Clark, the business secretary.

The Times