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Donald Trump’s envoy will take a robust “America First” position in trade talks, Boris Johnson has been warned.

The Prime Minister faced warnings the White House would seek to boost American interests when it come to striking a post-Brexit pact with the UK.

The President's national security adviser John Bolton fuelled hopes of sector-by-sector transatlantic trade pacts after the UK quits the EU.

He said in London: "To be clear, in the Trump administration, Britain's constantly at the front of the trade queue, or line as we say."

His remarks have been read as a retort to Barack Obama, who warned during the 2016 EU referendum campaign that Britain would be "at the back of the queue" in future US trade policy if it left the bloc.

But Tory MP Tom Tugendhat, who chairs the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, warned that any deal would be entirely in the US's interests.

He claimed the diplomat was a “very destabilising factor” when he was the US ambassador to the United Nations.

He said: “Many of the diplomats there found him very difficult to deal with.”

Mr Bolton is a “very robust advocate of the US interests as he sees it. He would very much go along with the line 'America first',” said Mr Tugendhat.

Issuing a warning over the trade deal plan, he added: “This isn't some sort of dewy-eyed, soft, romantic vision of a special relationship that he is trying to kindle for romantic and historic reasons – he has a very specific interest which is to defend and extend US interests.

That's why when he talks about trade deals and sector by sector, we need to remember that the US has … been very critical of the World Trade Organisation, has blocked the appointment of judges and has not supported the Organisation has we would like.”

Mr Bolton told reporters: "We want to move very quickly. We wish we could have moved further along in this with the prior government.

"We were ready to negotiate. We are ready to negotiate now."

The US national security adviser said negotiating a trade deal in smaller parts could allow the two sides to strike an agreement "very quickly".

"You could do it sector-by-sector, you could do it in a modular fashion, in other words," he said.

Mr Bolton added: "You could carve out some areas where it might be possible to reach a bilateral agreement very quickly, very straightforwardly.

"That would then lock that in and when the other areas that might be more difficult were concluded later, you could combine it in one overall agreement.

"So the objective is either one document or a series of agreements that would be comprehensive.

"In order to expedite things and enhance the possibility for increasing the trade and investments between the two countries, doing it in a sector-by-sector approach or some other approach that the trade negotiators might agree with, we are open to that."

The top US aide also threw his weight behind a no-deal Brexit on 31 October if Mr Johnson - who has pledged to take Britain out of the EU "do or die" by then - chooses to go down that path.

"I think if that’s the decision of the British government, we will support it enthusiastically," Mr Bolton said.

"And that’s what I’m trying to convey: We’re with you. We’re with you."

(Image: Getty Images)

Mr Bolton said the relationship between the President and the new PM were "off to a roaring start".

The pair have spoken on the phone five times since Mr Johnson took over.

The latest call took place on Monday, with a White House spokesperson saying: "The president expressed his appreciation for the United Kingdom’s steadfast partnership in addressing global challenges and looks forward to meeting with him personally in the near future."

Downing Street said the two leaders had discussed a "shared commitment to an ambitious free trade agreement once the UK leaves the EU".

"They also spoke about Brexit and a range of other issues — including Iran, Hong Kong, and 5G," a spokesperson added.

Caroline Lucas MP, leading supporter of the People’s Vote campaign, said: “The reason people like Donald Trump and John Bolton are sounding so enthusiastic about a post-Brexit US trade deal with the UK is because they know a disastrous No Deal would leave us weak and without leverage, so they could try and force conditions on us like accepting lower food standards and opening up the NHS to private US drug companies.

"They are not behaving like friends, they are circling like vultures.

“What John Bolton and Donald Trump fail to acknowledge is that it's the US Congress that ultimately decides on the terms of trade deals with other countries, and they have made it clear that any form of Brexit which puts the Good Friday Agreement in jeopardy will mean no comprehensive US-UK trade deal.

"And any smaller deals which bypass Congress would have minimal economic benefits anyway, nowhere near enough to compensate for lost trade with our closest and largest trading partner, the EU.

“Rather than chasing a cheap and dirty trade deal with Trump's America, Boris Johnson should acknowledge that the only democratic way to resolve the Brexit crisis now is to give the public the final say through a People's Vote.”

Meanwhile, more than 70 cross-party MPs and peers wage the latest Brexit legal fight at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.

They want judges to rule to rule that suspending parliament to deliver Brexit on October 31 would be “unlawful and unconstitutional.”