Theresa May attacks Donald Trump for ‘flouting’ world rules during UN speech
The PM made a veiled rebuke of the US President while addressing the UN
THERESA May has unleashed her strongest attack yet on Donald Trump for “flouting” world rules for his own gain.
In a powerful tongue lashing, the PM attacked the US president for pledging to pull out of major commitments such as trade deals and the Paris Climate Change agreement.
She even likened Mr Trump’s highly controversial move to states that illegally pursue nuclear weapons arsenals, and all just a few hours before she held tense face-to-face talks with him in New York.
In her podium speech to the UN General Assembly, Mrs May also issued a second blast for the world body itself.
She revealed Britain is withholding tens of millions in funding to UN agencies until they prove our taxpayers cash will not be misspent.
Mr Trump and other rule flouters like Russia’s President Putin are helping to build a global “crisis of faith” that could be disastrous for everyone, Mrs May added.
The PM told world leaders at the UN’s annual meeting major global challenges such as mass migration and globalisation are putting serious strain on the old world order.
But she insisted: “As the global system struggles to adapt, we are confronted by states deliberately flouting – for their own gain - the rules and standards that have secured our collective prosperity and security.
“It is this rules based system which we have developed – including the institutions, the international frameworks of free and fair trade; agreements such as the Paris Climate Change accord; and laws and conventions like the Non-Proliferation Treaty – which enables the global co-operation through which we can protect those values.”
The PM argued: “The only way for us to respond to this vast array of challenges is to come together and defend the international order that we have worked so hard to create”.
Mrs May also demanded major reforms to the UN to ensure its shortcomings don’t undermine crumbling faith in it any further.
She argued: “We should also acknowledge that throughout its history the UN has suffered from a seemingly unbridgeable gap between the nobility of its purposes and the effectiveness of its delivery”.
She called on the UN to first win back the UK’s trust before she agrees to release the final 30% of the government’s £90million mandatory annual contributions to the UN’s administration budget.
Wasteful aid spending and needless bureaucracy must be stopped, the PM demanded.
But critics said the cash sum she will withhold is a drop in the ocean compared to the £2bn additional contributions that the UK ploughs in to the UN’s aid bodies.
International Development Secretary Priti Patel was also withering in her condemnation of the UN during her speech to it.
Ms Patel accused of it “ballooning into a multiplicity of agencies, organisations, with billions spent in funds, programmes, costs and overheads”.
She added: “The levels of inefficiency are shocking, with competition between agencies and bodies generating institutional turf wars that hinder and harm the very efforts we are meant to assist.”
The speeches capped a turbulent two days at the UN’s annual get together of world leaders, after Mr Trump threatened to “completely destroy” North Korea.
The US president’s assault on the Iran nuclear deal on Tuesday also sparked a furious response from its president yesterday.
Hitting back, Hassan Rouhani condemned Trump for “ugly, ignorant words” and insisting Teheran’s progress would not be hampered by “rogue newcomers to the world of politics”.
We'll slash UN cash if it doesn't reform, minister warns
The UN is no longer “fit for purpose” and will lose funding from Britain unless it reforms, the International Aid Secretary said today.
Priti Patel also blasted the organisation for failing to crack down on sexual abuse carried out by UN peacekeepers as she addressed other leaders in New York.
She said: “Against the backdrop of unprecedented humanitarian crises, the international system is, frankly, not coping - it’s not fit for purpose.
“While the objectives and goals of the UN are timeless, the structures and system we have today was cobbled together over years, and it is time for change.
“Nothing emphasises these problems like the sickening and atrocious sexual abuses carried out under the UN flag – it will not be tolerated.
“The UK is putting our money where our mouth is, and to ensure these critical reforms are not ignored, a third of our spending will be dependent on UN agencies making the changes needed to remain relevant in the 21st century.”
