Boris Johnson dubbed Donald Trump ‘with better hair’ by Barack Obama after row over bust of Winston Churchill in Oval Office
An explosive memoir about the former President’s time in office details his disastrous trip to the UK during the Brexit referendum, when he said we would be ‘at the back of the queue’ for a trade deal, prompting widespread criticism
BORIS Johnson was dubbed the British Donald Trump “with better hair” by Barack Obama after a row over a bust of Winston Churchill.
An explosive memoir about the former President’s time in office details his disastrous trip to the UK during the Brexit referendum.
The account is revealed in the World as It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House by Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser and speechwriter for Mr Obama.
He said the trip in April 2016 was “hastily arranged”, and the US leader said Britain would be “at the back of the queue” for a trade deal after Brexit, prompting widespread criticism.
Mr Rhodes said then-Prime Minister David Cameron’s chief of staff Ed Llewellyn emailed him begging for a presidential visit in the run-up to the 2016 referendum.
He pointed out that the polls were finely balanced and Mr Obama had an approval rating in the UK of more than 70 per cent.
An extract from the book reads: “It was unusual to coordinate so closely with a foreign government, but the Brits were different, and Brexit would be calamitous, a crucial piece of the post-world war two order drifting off into the sea.”
As part of the trip the American leader wrote an article calling for Brits to back Remain.
Mr Johnson wrote a scathing response, saying Mr Obama had removed the statue of Churchill from the Oval Office due to his “ancestral dislike of the British Empire”.
Mr Rhodes said the response from the President was: “Really? The black guy doesn’t like the British?”
When the author suggested to Mr Obama his critics were “more subtle back home”, the president replied: “Not really ... Boris is their Trump”.
Mr Rhodes added: “With better hair.”
At a press conference during the trip Mr Obama then hit back at Mr Johnson, saying: “I love Winston Churchill, love the guy.”
Mr Rhodes also reveals that Mr Cameron’s aides were “congratulating one another” on the President’s intervention, though it was later seen to have backfired and helped drive voters to back Brexit instead.
The bust of Churchill was later put back in the Oval Office by Donald Trump.