Trump instantly disinvites UK ambassador from dinner after memo leak

Sir Kim Darroch frozen out of event after president vows he will 'no longer deal with him'

The UK’s ambassador to the US was promptly disinvited to a dinner with Donald Trump after the leak of memos in which he called the president’s administration “inept”.

Sir Kim Darroch was frozen out of the event at the US Treasury on Monday night after Mr Trump tweeted he would “no longer deal with” the British envoy.

The dinner was hosted by Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin in honour of Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, who is visiting Washington this week.

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Dozens of business leaders joined the pair and Mr Trump at the event in the department’s opulent Cash Room.

Among those seated at the president table was New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who was charged with soliciting prostitution in February as part of sex trafficking sting operation in Florida.

White House officials confirmed to US news outlets that Sir Kim’s invitation had been withdrawn.

It came after Mr Trump launched a scathing attack on the ambassador and the British government on Monday.

“I do not know the ambassador, but he is not liked or well thought of within the US. We will no longer deal with him,” he tweeted.

The president said Theresa May had made “a mess” of Brexit, adding: “The good news for the wonderful United Kingdom is that they will soon have a new prime minister.”

Mr Trump’s outburst followed the leak of diplomatic cables in which Sir Kim said of the White House: “We don’t really believe this administration is going to become substantially more normal; less dysfunctional; less unpredictable; less faction riven; less diplomatically clumsy and inept.”

Sir Christopher Meyer, a former British ambassador to the US, said Mr Trump's response to the publication demonstrated the president's "sensitivity" and "his insecurity, which Sir Kim himself bore witness to".

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Sir Christopher said there was "a possible range of villains" who may have leaked the cables.

He added: "But, it was clearly somebody who set out, deliberately, to sabotage Sir Kim's ambassadorship, to make his position untenable, and to have him replaced by somebody more congenial to the leaker."