Two things stood out about the first phone call between Theresa May and Donald Trump: the length of time the British prime minister was kept waiting for it, and the explanation given subsequently by the chancellor, Philip Hammond – that the two politicians had no urgent business to discuss.

Trump, through chance, time and preference, managed to put May 11th in the list of world leaders he conversed with in the aftermath of his election victory on Tuesday. The prime minister’s call came after the US President-elect had spoken with leaders from Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Japan, India, Turkey, Israel, South Korea, Ireland and – first of all – Egypt.

Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, a man who has ruthlessly suppressed democracy in his country and presides over an economy in meltdown, was the first leader to speak to Trump. In September the Republican called Sisi “a fantastic guy”, adding admiringly: “He took control of Egypt. And he really took control of it.”

Even so, the placing of the strongman first on Trump’s list and the subsequent sequencing of his calls raises some questions. At the very least it suggests a haphazard approach: that conversations were not being prioritised according to any logical diplomatic pecking order, but instead his random availability and the persistence with which a foreign leader tried to make contact.

As for the “special relationship” between the US and UK, British diplomats in Washington – among them, probably, the UK ambassador, Kim Darroch – will be smarting at reports that Boris Johnson was unhappy that the Washington office had not got closer to the Trump team during the elections. After all, Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair’s chief of staff, famously instructed the then ambassador, Sir Christopher Meyer: “We want you to get up the White House’s arse.”



Being placed 11th in the Trump calls list, therefore, has got to hurt. To come in behind Mexico – given the damage Trump’s election has inflicted on the peso, and all the rhetoric about the US-Mexican border – is explicable. But for the UK to lose out to Ireland, Australia and Saudi Arabia will smart.

Explanations abound. Trump’s office is not as yet the most organised or protocol-driven. May will also take some comfort in the knowledge that she squeezed in ahead of France’s François Hollande and Germany’s Angela Merkel.

May, averse to any running commentary, was probably unaware until too late that a tally was being run on her access to Trump, or that something she might consider trivial was becoming a diplomatic slight. She probably thought, logically enough, the content of the call, not its timing, was what mattered.

But then came Hammond, caught off guard by a journalist’s question at an Anglo-Chinese bilateral meeting. The chancellor made matters worse by suggesting the prime minister had nothing urgent to raise with the man who will soon take the reins of the world’s most powerful country.

On one level his explanation holds, since Trump does not assume power until January. On another it looks like a hasty attempt by a blindsided politician to cover up a diplomatic faux pas.

The muddle, at any rate, reveals the extent to which the status of the special relationship remains a subject of neuralgic concern within the UK government, and a matter of less significance in Washington.

The UK Foreign Office prides itself on being the bridge between America and Europe. Trump’s election – and Brexit – makes that task harder.

It will be for Johnson, the foreign secretary currently abroad on a five-country tour through the Balkans, to now act as the transatlantic bridge. He was the first overseas politician to take a call from the vice-president-elect, Mike Pence. According to the Foreign Office account, Pence was very warm about Johnson, knew about his career and emphasised that he looked forward to working with the UK.

Johnson – in contrast to the bland remarks issued by May – waxed lyrical about Trump’s election, saying it was time to be “overwhelmingly positive about the possibilities” of a Trump presidency and describing the US president-elect as a “deal maker”.

Johnson spoke to two members of Trump’s transition team – former House speaker Newt Gingrich and senator Jeff Sessions – on Friday, as he sought to underline Britain’s determination to strike up a close working relationship with the new regime in Washington.

Government sources described both conversations as warm, and said Johnson had discussed issues including the Syrian crisis with Gingrich. Sessions is tipped as a potential defence secretary under Trump.

Johnson publicly alluded to the gap in response to the Trump election between the British and many mainland European governments.

In remarks that can be taken as a criticism of Merkel and Hollande, who both gave distinctly chilly welcomes to the Republican’s victory, he said: “I would respectfully say to my beloved European friends and colleagues that it’s time that we snapped out of the general doom and gloom about the result of this election and collective ‘whinge-o-rama’ that seems to be going on in some places.”

By upbraiding Europe, and hugging America close, Johnson underlined the extent to which Brexit may not just become an economic but also a political uncoupling.

Johnson is fond of saying that the UK is not leaving Europe, just the EU. But his remarks will be seen by some in Europe as another sign that, faced with a choice, the UK will choose America over Europe. With so much at stake, including Nato, Brexit and Anglo-Russian relations, London can only hope the unpredictable Trump reciprocates.