MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Trump on the phone with PM May: “UK a very, very special place for me and for my country”
Trump set out his “close and personal connections with, and warmth for, the UK”, according to a Downing Street spokesman. 
The call to PM May came at 1.45pm on Thursday ahead of Mr. Trump's meeting in Washington with president Barack Obama. 
Trump invited Irish PM Enda Kenny to attend the St Patrick's Day celebrations at the White House, as is the tradition. The special relationship between the UK and the US will go from “strength to strength”, Donald Trump has told Theresa May in their first telephone call since his election. The President-elect told the Prime Minister the UK was a “very, very special place for me and for our country”. He set out his “close and personal connections with, and warmth for, the UK”, according to a Downing Street spokesman. Mrs. May stressed the importance of Britain's relationship with the US in the wake of the Brexit vote.
The call came at 1.45pm on Thursday ahead of Mr. Trump's meeting in Washington with president Barack Obama.
Mr. Trump had spoken to nine leaders before calling Mrs. May, sparking some concerns over the state of the “special relationship” with the President-elect.
A spokesman for No 10 said: “The Prime Minister and President-elect Trump agreed that the US-UK relationship was very important and very special, and that building on this would be a priority for them both.
”President-elect Trump set out his close and personal connections with, and warmth for, the UK. He said he was confident that the special relationship would go from strength to strength.
“The Prime Minister expressed her commitment to building and expanding the UK's relationships around the world, particularly after the referendum vote, and the importance of our partnership with the US.”
He added: “She highlighted her wish to strengthen bilateral trade and investment with the US as we leave the EU. But she said that our relationship is so much more than that and our two countries have always stood together as close allies when it counts the most.
”President-elect Trump strongly agreed and added that the UK is a 'very, very special place for me and for our country'.“
He said the call ended with Mr. Trump inviting Mrs. May to visit him ”at the earliest opportunity”.
Chancellor Philip Hammond said the apparent delay in the call to Mrs. May was because they did not have any urgent business to discuss.
Ahead of Mrs. May, Mr. Trump spoke to the leaders of South Korea, Japan, Egypt, Australia, India, Turkey, Israel and Mexico. He invited Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny to attend the St Patrick's Day celebrations at the White House, as is the tradition.
Kenny said he “had a very good conversation with the President elect”.
“He understands Ireland very well, he was complimentary about the decisions made about the economy here. He is looking forward to doing business with Ireland”, he said. Trump recently bought a £12.4m golf course in Ireland
Trump has also arranged to meet the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe next week, before an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
PM May is due to meet Trump at the leaders G7 summit May next year, but the UK Prime Minister hopes to discuss trade deals before that date.
Top Comments
Disclaimer & comment rules-
-
-
Read all commentsTrump and indeed the rest of us - the deplorables, that is - value the UK.
Nov 11th, 2016 - 02:46 pm +2And truth be known we hold a very similar affinity for Cannuckistan and the Asstralians.
At the end of the day America has few friends that we can depend on.
Israel is most certainly one.
For Obamy to attempt to drive a wedge between us and the Brits and the Israelis was the height of foolishness and once again demonstrates how crippling his limited understanding of America is.
The great failing of Obamy's globalism and international meddlings is that he tended to place excessive value on relationships of dubious merit.
While we probably won't march lockstep, President Trump will pay much, much more attention to those with which we share a common heritage than did the soon to be footnoted Obamy.
Trump got his support largely from coffin dodgers like me. Its no wonder he realises that we will usually support America. The exception was the Vietnam war. After the American snub over Suez we stood back realising that Vietnam was a lost cause from the start. Eventually most Yanks realised too. But then we made the same mistake America made with Vietnam by invading Iraq against the advice of our FO Camel Corps. Bush and Bliar's redneck revenge. This has caused a continuing bloodbath in the middle east. I have high hopes for Trump. He is politically incorrect. He realises some countries need strong dictators to maintain order as the lesser of the evils. I think he will line up beside Putin in Syria and encourage other middle east strong men to restore peace in the other trouble spots. A far cry from Hillary's interventionist schemes.
Nov 11th, 2016 - 04:09 pm 0Hepatia, with Trump you can put your prediction up to 29 years now. Not that it will make any difference.29, 290 or 2900 years. Your imperialist country aint going to get it's hands on the Falklands. Ever.
Nov 15th, 2016 - 12:04 am 0Commenting for this story is now closed.
If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!