Liz Truss has refused to say whether Donald Trump is a “friend or foe”, after sparking a diplomatic incident by suggesting that “the jury is out” on which camp French president Emmanuel Macron sits in.
Following her comment at a Conservative leadership hustings last week, Mr Macron warned she could cause “serious problems” in the Anglo-French relationship, insisting that he regarded the UK as a friend “regardless of its leaders, and sometimes in spite of its leaders”.
At the final hustings of the campaign to succeed Boris Johnson, in Wembley on Wednesday, Ms Truss chose her words more diplomatically.
She made clear that she regards a Trump return to the White House if he stands again for the presidency in 2024 as a possibility.
Asked by moderator Nick Ferrari, of LBC radio, whether former US president Trump was “friend or foe”, she replied: “I am not going to comment on future potential presidential runners.
“We have to work with who is in the White House. The United States is our closest ally.
“I have met both President Trump when he was in office and President Biden now he’s in office. And my priority is working to promote freedom and democracy around the world and to work with our American allies against what is a very severe threat we’re facing, including an assertive China and belligerent Russia.
“The United States and France are freedom-loving democracies and I will work with both of them, whoever the leader is.”
Ms Truss later dodged the question of whether she would rather accept an invitation to cocktails from Trump or Facebook executive and former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, if the two men made the offer during her first trip to the White House as PM.
“Oh my God, what a choice,” laughed the foreign secretary, who had just accused Mr Clegg of blocking her efforts to cut mandatory carer levels in childcare during the coalition government.
“I think I’d focus on meeting President Biden.”
