WASHINGTON – President Trump talked up Boris Johnson to succeed Theresa May as the next prime minister of Britain.

“I actually have studied it very hard. I know the different players,” Trump said in an interview with The Sun. “But I think Boris would do a very good job. I think he would be excellent.”

The president, who is leaving for a trip to the United Kingdom and France on Sunday, added that he liked Johnson, a former mayor of London and a leader of the Brexit movement.

“I have always liked him. I don’t know that he is going to be chosen, but I think he is a very good guy, a very talented,” Trump said. “He has been very positive about me and our country.”

He also didn’t think that Johnson’s extra-marital affairs – and his lovechild – would necessarily hinder his chances.

“Well, it always matters, but I think that it’s certainly not what it was 20 years ago, and not certainly what it was 50 years ago. I think today it matters much less,” said the thrice-married Trump, who has his own checkered past.

The Sun called Trump’s quasi-endorsement of Johnson a “major breach of protocol”, setting up his forthcoming trip to the U.K. as the “most controversial” visit from an American leader in modern times.