Boris Johnson snubs EU crisis meeting on election of Trump
The move highlights the widening gulf between London and the continent over how to respond to the president-elect after a senior German politician warned Theresa May was “delusional” if she believed the incoming Republican administration would give the UK a good trade deal.
Foreign Secretary Mr Johnson, who branded vocal European concern about the US election result as a “whinge-o-rama”, was dismissive of the need for a special EU meeting.
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Hide AdA Foreign Office spokesman said: “The Foreign Secretary will not attend the meeting convened for Sunday. There is a regular Foreign Affairs Council meeting on Monday where a range of issues can be discussed in the normal way.”
The move came as Axel Schafer, a top member of German chancellor Angela Merkel’s Social Democrat party, said of the prospects of a preferential UK-US trade deal: “Even before Tuesday the chances were rather low, now the hope for this kind of deal seems delusional.”