Rejection of Donald Trump’s suggestion comes as MPs say Ukip leader’s incendiary views ruled him out of a diplomatic post

Downing Street and the Foreign Office have brushed off a suggestion from the US president-elect, Donald Trump, that Nigel Farage would be a good ambassador to Washington, as MPs said the interim Ukip leader’s inflammatory views made him a poor candidate for a diplomatic post.

No 10 declined to criticise Trump’s call for Farage to become the ambassador and stressed that it was “important to reiterate that the UK already has an incredibly strong and enduring relationship with the United States”.

The prime minister’s spokesman said: “As far as the ambassador goes, there is no vacancy for that position. We have an excellent ambassador to the United States and he will continue his work.”

Overnight, Trump tweeted that Farage’s appointment would be a popular choice, an unprecedented comment from an incoming US president in suggesting a foreign appointment to another world leader, especially given Farage’s opposition to the government.



Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) Many people would like to see @Nigel_Farage represent Great Britain as their Ambassador to the United States. He would do a great job!

Sir Kim Darroch, formerly the UK’s national security adviser and permanent representative to the EU, took over the role as US ambassador in January, one of the most prestigious in the diplomatic service.

Darroch versus Farage as Britain's ambassador to US: a comparison Read more

Both Downing Street and the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, took pains to praise Darroch’s tenure in Washington in their responses to Trump’s tweet.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Johnson said Darroch was a “a first rate ambassador in Washington doing a very good job with the current administration and the administration to be, and there is no vacancy”.



Johnson said the UK hoped to be influential as Trump took the reins at the White House. “I do think it is very important that on all sides of this House we should be as positive as we possibly can be about working with the incoming US administration,” he said.

“It is of massive importance to our country and indeed to the world. And I suggest to the honourable member that he should judge that new administration by their actions in office which, of course, we hope to shape and influence.”

Fellow Conservative MP Dan Poulter asked Johnson to stress that those with a character such as Farage’s would not make good ambassadors.

“Diplomats require diplomacy,” he told the Commons. “There should be no place for anyone who expresses inflammatory and what sometimes can be considered to be borderline racist views in representing this country in discussions with the United States.”

Johnson said he thought Poulter “captures the mood of the House” on the issue, adding: “We have already settled that question, there is no vacancy.”

In Brussels, the Brexit secretary, David Davis, said he believed Darroch would be in place for the foreseeable future. “We are believers in free speech in Britain, but we have got a very good ambassador Kim Darroch who is going to be there for some years,” he told the BBC.

“People can say what they like. The simple truth is there is no vacancy. The ambassador there is very, very good. And he will be there for years.”

Sir Christopher Meyer, a former UK ambassador to Washington, tweeted on Tuesday morning that it was not for foreign leaders to suggest candidates for diplomatic posts.

Christopher Meyer (@SirSocks) UK ambo in DC exists to defend UK interests in US, not US interests in UK. Can't have foreign presidents deciding who our ambo should be.

Earlier, Farage said he had not been expecting Trump’s tweet, but said it was a signal that Downing Street needed to change its thinking.



“I can still scarcely believe that he did that, though speaking to a couple of his longtime friends perhaps I am a little less surprised,” he wrote in an piece on Tuesday morning for rightwing US site Breitbart.

“They all say the same thing: that Trump is a very loyal man and supports those that stand by him.”

Farage, who recently suggested he could mount an eighth attempt to become an MP after failing seven times, said personal relationships were key to how Trump operated. “Sadly, the cesspit that is career politics understands nothing of this,” he said. “In their world, the concept of trust is transitory.”

The Ukip leader has previously said it was “obvious” that Darroch should resign, calling him part of the “old regime”.

Though Farage admitted he did not necessarily have the personal qualities for a diplomatic position, one ally of Ukip’s interim leader suggested Theresa May could solve a political problem for her party by appointing him, saying it would be an effective way of ending Ukip as a force in British politics.

Farage, the first foreign politician to meet Trump after the Republican candidate’s shock victory, is expecting an invitation to Trump’s inauguration in January, sources have told the Guardian.

Having campaigned together during the election, Trump and Farage met recently at Trump Tower in New York, where the president-elect is said to have encouraged Farage to oppose wind farms, which he felt marred the views from his Scottish golf courses.

Andy Wigmore, a communications officer for one of the groups campaigning to leave the EU who was at the meeting alongside Farage, told the Daily Express: “We covered a lot of ground during the hour-long meeting we had.



“But one thing Mr Trump kept returning to was the issue of wind farms. He is a complete Anglophile and also absolutely adores Scotland, which he thinks is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. But he is dismayed that his beloved Scotland has become overrun with ugly wind farms, which he believes are a blight on the stunning landscape.”