Alex Salmond: UK ministers asked me for help on Donald Trump

Two ministers in Theresa May's government asked Alex Salmond for advice about how to approach Donald Trump, but failed to heed his warning to 'sup with a long spoon', the former First Minister has said.

Alex Salmond believes that PM has rushed into relationship. Picture: AFP/Getty Images

Mr Salmond also claimed Mrs May would have “no influence” in talks with the EU because she had tied herself to a president believed to be hostile towards Europe while supporting Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

The unidentified ministers are understood to have approached the former SNP leader before Christmas, independently.

As First Minister, Mr Salmond had a roller-coaster relationship with the new US president which began warmly as the property tycoon invested millions of dollars in golf resorts in Scotland.

It ended with Mr Trump attacking Mr Salmond as “Mad Alex” and accusing him of “ruining Scotland” in a dispute over a planned offshore wind farm facing his estate in Aberdeenshire.

Describing the approach, Mr Salmond said: “I advised them two things: under no circumstances rush into a relationship, and don’t do it under terms of disadvantage.

“That is what she did - she went rushing into the relationship under terms of disadvantage and it’s already unravelling.”

Dozens of MPs have signed a motion calling for President Trump not to be invited to address both houses of parliament on a state visit planned for later this year, in protest at his controversial refugee and travel ban.