British officials are said to have drawn conclusions from their failure to predict the billionaire’s win in 2016
US President Donald Trump inspects an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at Buckingham Palace in central London on June 3, 2019. © MANDEL NGAN / AFP
Senior UK officials are compiling a dossier on former US President Donald Trump in anticipation of his potential victory in the 2024 election, which could bring turmoil to the global stage, inews reported on Friday.
The website claimed, citing unnamed sources, that the Foreign Office is spearheading the campaign to gather a folder of documents outlining the 45th US president’s stance on “key issues affecting the UK, such as the Ukraine crisis, the Middle East and international trade.” Britain’s ambassador to Washington, Karen Pierce, is said to be the main figure leading the effort.
According to inews, Tory officials worry that if Trump beats incumbent Joe Biden, he could “chuck a massive grenade into global geopolitics.” One unnamed official told the outlet that Trump’s reelection “absolutely makes an enormous difference” as the UK has become more dependent on America’s stance on global affairs since Brexit.
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“Trump will come in, and he will choose a more aggressive line on, for example, Iran. We will be forced into more situations that we are instinctively uncomfortable about,” the source added, as quoted by inews.
The report also suggested that Britain had drawn conclusions from Trump’s win in 2016 and would not underestimate him again. “I suspect they will be saying, ‘We screwed it up last time…’ I think there will be fierce activity, contact-building, and trying to be in the room,” a source said.
Several recent polls have suggested that the former president – widely considered the GOP frontrunner for the nomination – is leading Biden. A November New York Times and Siena College survey also found that the incumbent was trailing Trump in five battleground states.
Regarding Trump’s views on foreign policy, he suggested that he would end the Ukraine conflict within hours if elected while criticizing Biden’s handling of the crisis. He is also known for his hawkish stance on Iran, which plays an important role in the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel.
Under Trump, the US and the UK sought to maintain their “special relationship” dating back to WWII, but his tenure was marred by several major scandals between the two countries. In 2019, the ex-president called then-UK ambassador to Washington Kim Darroch a “very stupid guy” after British media published memos where the envoy allegedly doubted that the Trump administration could become “less dysfunctional.”
