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Nigel Farage arrives in New York ahead of possible Trump meeting Trump must meet Theresa May to mend fences, says Nigel Farage
(about 5 hours later)
Nigel Farage has travelled to New York as speculation mounts that the interim Ukip leader will be the first major British politician to meet Donald Trump since he was elected US president. Nigel Farage has said Donald Trump must meet Theresa May to mend fences between the UK and the US.
Farage, who was in Florida earlier this week for a private meeting and had met the president-elect during his campaign rallies earlier this year, is said to have arrived in New York on Saturday. Speaking on Fox News, Farage said the British prime minister’s team had been “quite rude” about the president-elect, but that Trump had “got to meet her”.
A Ukip source confirmed that Farage had travelled to Palm Beach on Friday and was expected to hold meetings in New York with members of Trump’s team. Farage’s trip to the US had been organised before the results of the presidential election were announced, he added. “Trump is an anglophile,” the interim Ukip leader said. “He understands and recognises what our two great nations have done together, between us, and thank goodness we’re coming to the end of an American president who loathed us.
A meeting between Trump and Farage is likely to cause concern in Downing Street, following reports that the “special relationship” between the US and UK could be more difficult to maintain under the new president. “One of the things we can do between us is a sensible trade relationship, cut tariffs. We’re massive investors in each other’s countries. There’s a brighter future.”
Farage, who became increasingly open in his backing for Trump after he spoke at a rally for the Republican candidate in Mississippi, claimed this week to be “the catalyst” for his rise . Asked to comment on the Brexit referendum, Farage said it had given “ordinary little people the chance to say what they thought”.
In an interview with TalkRadio from Spain before he left for the US, Farage said he was “the catalyst for the downfall of the Blairites, the Clintonites, the Bushites and all these dreadful people who work hand in glove with Goldman Sachs and everybody else, have made themselves rich and ruined our countries”. “Brexit was the first real kick back against the liberal establishment, which has dominated with its friends in big business and the big banks, dominated the world for the last couple of decades,” he said.
“What we have to do is follow the example given to us over 30 years ago by Reagan and Thatcher. They both won counter-revolution elections … they made the world a better place.”
Farage is reported to have travelled to New York on Saturday as speculation mounted that the interim Ukip leader would be the first major British politician to meet Trump since his election as US president.
He was in Florida earlier this week for a private meeting and met Trump at campaign rallies earlier this year.
Ukip sources say no firm meeting is scheduled with the president-elect, that Farage would be delighted if the opportunity arose.
A meeting between Trump and Farage would likely cause concern in Downing Street, following reports that the “special relationship” between the US and UK could be more difficult to maintain under the new president.
Farage has also suggested that “insulting” comments senior Tories made about Trump may have been the reason for May coming only eleventh on the president-elect’s list of foreign leaders to call after his surprise win last Tuesday.
Farage’s remarks came after it emerged that the prime minister’s two joint chiefs of staff had attacked Trump on social media before taking up their current posts.
Fiona Hill posted last December: “Donald Trump is a chump,” while her colleague Nick Timothy wrote in March: “American politics was depressing enough before Trump took off.”
Farage, who became increasingly open in his backing for Trump after he spoke at a rally for the Republican candidate in Mississippi, claimed this week to be “the catalyst” for his rise.
In an interview with TalkRadio from Spain before he left for the US, Farage said he was “the catalyst” for the downfall of the Blairites, the Clintonites, the Bushites and all these dreadful people who work hand in glove with Goldman Sachs and everybody else, have made themselves rich and ruined our countries”.
He also joked about the idea of Trump sexually assaulting Theresa May when he met her, and described outgoing president Barack Obama as a “creature”. Asked about Trump’s possible future behaviour after he was accused of a series of sexual assaults, which he denies, Farage added: “If it comes to it, I could be there as the responsible adult role, to make sure everything’s OK.”He also joked about the idea of Trump sexually assaulting Theresa May when he met her, and described outgoing president Barack Obama as a “creature”. Asked about Trump’s possible future behaviour after he was accused of a series of sexual assaults, which he denies, Farage added: “If it comes to it, I could be there as the responsible adult role, to make sure everything’s OK.”
A Downing street source suggested that Farage’s activities in Washington were an irrelevance to the British government. He said: “[Farage] has no role whatsoever. We won’t be talking to him.” A Downing street source said Farage’s activities in Washington were an irrelevance to the British government. “He has no role whatsoever. We won’t be talking to him,” the source said.
Meanwhile, Axel Schafer, a senior member of Angela Merkel’s Social Democrat coalition, said May was delusional if she thought she could broker a good trade deal from Trump. Meanwhile, Axel Schafer, a senior member of Angela Merkel’s Social Democrat coalition, said May was delusional if she thought she could broker a good trade deal with Trump.
Schafer told The Times that the likelihood of a speedy and preferential trade agreement between the UK and the US had changed. “Even before Tuesday the chances were rather low, now the hope for this kind of deal seems delusional,” he said. Schafer told the Times that the likelihood of a speedy and preferential trade agreement between the UK and the US had changed. “Even before Tuesday the chances were rather low, now the hope for this kind of deal seems delusional,” he said.
The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, described Trump’s election as a “global wake-up call” that show ed that Britain must take back control from the billionaires bank-rolling the Tories.The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, described Trump’s election as a “global wake-up call” that show ed that Britain must take back control from the billionaires bank-rolling the Tories.
Corbyn accused the president-elect of targeting the fears of people who feel left behind by the economic change of globalisation . He said that instead of giving them solutions, he had shifted the blame to other sections of society.Corbyn accused the president-elect of targeting the fears of people who feel left behind by the economic change of globalisation . He said that instead of giving them solutions, he had shifted the blame to other sections of society.
“We have no idea how Donald Trump proposes to ‘make America great again’, and Theresa May’s Tories offer slogans, but no solutions, for most people in Britain,” he said.“We have no idea how Donald Trump proposes to ‘make America great again’, and Theresa May’s Tories offer slogans, but no solutions, for most people in Britain,” he said.
“We won’t tackle the damage done by elite globalisation just by leaving the EU. We won’t ‘take back control’ unless we take on the corporate vested interests that control our energy, our transport, and have infiltrated our public services.“We won’t tackle the damage done by elite globalisation just by leaving the EU. We won’t ‘take back control’ unless we take on the corporate vested interests that control our energy, our transport, and have infiltrated our public services.
“One thing is for sure. Neither billionaire Donald Trump nor the billionaire-backed Tories have any interest in giving people back control, or reining in the predatory excesses of a globalised free-for-all,” Corbyn told Labour’s south east regional conference in Kent.“One thing is for sure. Neither billionaire Donald Trump nor the billionaire-backed Tories have any interest in giving people back control, or reining in the predatory excesses of a globalised free-for-all,” Corbyn told Labour’s south east regional conference in Kent.
“Donald Trump tapped into real problems: stagnating or falling wages, underfunded public services, insecure work and housing, years of being left behind and neglected, frustration that your children’s prospects look bleaker and anger at a political elite that doesn’t listen.
“But instead of offering real solutions or the resources to make them work, he offered only someone to blame – everyone, that is, apart from those who are actually responsible for a broken economy and a failed political system.”
Corbyn said the Tories had responded to people’s fears in the same way by opening the door to Ukip and fanning “the flames of fear”. He said Farage “blames immigrants, yet offers not a single proposal to put a penny more into the NHS”.
“He actually wants to privatise our NHS, a service that now relies on hard-working migrants to keep going,” he said.
Corbyn said that tens of millions of people in the US and UK feel “left behind, marginalised and disrespected by an economic system that makes them work harder for less, while hoovering up ever greater rewards for a small elite.
“People are right to be angry. Our failed economic system is delivering falling living standards and rising inequality.”