LEFT HANGING?
Theresa May appears to snub Donald Trump’s handshake offer in awkward moment at NATO summit
THERESA May appeared to snub Donald Trump's offer of a handshake during an awkward moment at today's NATO summit.
In cringe-worthy scenes the US President goes in for a formal greeting, but then Mrs May seems to take her hand away at the last minute.
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In a clip from the floor of the meeting Mr Trump was left hanging when he went in to greet the Prime Minister.
As he moves through the room shaking hands with world leaders, he moves towards Mrs May, who has her hand out.
But as the American leader moves his out to meet the PM's she withdraws it and mushers him in the direction of Jeremy Hunt, the new Foreign Secretary.
The PM then places her hand on his back, as she introduces him to the person that has replaced Boris, who Mr Trump called a "friend" just yesterday.
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The tense first meeting between the pair comes just 24 hours after the US President raised eyebrows with his comments about Brexit, Boris, and Mrs May.
Before he boarded the plane to Europe he would only give Mrs May lukewarm support about whether she should remain in Number 10, telling reporters it was up to "the British people" to decide her fate.
He dealt her another blow by claiming Britain was "in turmoil" over Brexit - following the resignations of Boris Johnson and David Davis earlier this week.
And he said it meant that his upcoming summit with President Putin could be "easier" because of it.
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Mr Trump also paid tribute to his "friend" Mr Johnson, and said he hoped he would be able to have talks with him when he gets to the UK.
He's currently not scheduled to meet the ex-Foreign Secretary, but this morning US Ambassador Woody Johnson said it could be arranged if the President wants it.
Despite the awkward handshake there appeared to be no hard feelings between Mrs May and Mr Trump today as they arrived for discussions on national security in Europe.
This morning Mr Trump got the summit off to a rocky start when he accused Germany of being a "captive" of Russia by paying Putin billions in oil deals.
In a blistering attack at breakfast with Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg, Mr Trump claimed Angela Merkel's country was "totally controlled" by Moscow due to its oil and gas deal with Russia.
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And he again lashed out at European countries for failing to pay enough towards defence - meaning America has to pick up a bigger bill.
But Mrs May wished Gareth Southgate good luck ahead of the semi-final as she arrived in Brussels today.
She then met Croatia’s President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, who handed her a replica of her national team’s football shirt with ‘Theresa May’ on the back.
The Croatian leader also gave a No.9 Croatia shirt to Donald Trump with his name on the back.
Mrs May, beaming to the cameras as she arrived in the Belgian capital for the crunch summit of Nato countries yesterday, said: “Good luck to the team tonight. Gareth Southgate and the boys have done a fantastic job and I’m sure that they are going to go on to do well. I just wish them all the very best of luck tonight.”
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Earlier this week The Sun revealed that she compared herself to Southgate in a plea for Cabinet unity at her crunch Chequers summit last week.
The Prime Minister told her warring top team it was time to “come together” if they were to win like the Three Lions.
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