A Republican strategist who managed former Gov. Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign says that GOP hopeful Mitt Romney’s recent gaffes during a trip to London reinforced the appearance that he is “aloof and not always understanding the situation.”

Chip Saltsman on Sunday told Fox News host Chris Wallace that Romney had made an “unforced error” in London by suggesting that the British were not prepared for the Olympics.

ADVERTISEMENT

“And unforced errors usually lose the match,” Saltsman explained. “At the end of the day, this should have been a lay-up trip. When you go to London you’d think since he’s got the Olympic experience, the guy writing the memo would say, be positive. I mean, this is an exciting time for London.”

“But I think what you saw there was kind of CEO Mitt Romney come out — which is kind of his default position — and say, you know, ‘Looks pretty good but there’s problems — could be problems. We need to work on this.’ And people were like going, ‘Huh?'”

Saltsman added: “And this, unfortunately, reinforces the kind of Mitt Romney image of kind of aloof and not always understanding the situation.”

After Romney criticized the country’s Olympic preparations and then revealed a secret meeting with the chief of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, British officials and members of the press made it clear that they were offended.

“Of course it’s easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere,” Prime Minister David Cameron quipped on Thursday in reference to the Romney’s 2002 games in Salt Lake City.

ADVERTISEMENT

Then, London Mayor Boris Johnson made a point of shaming “a guy called Mitt Romney” in front of a crowd of tens of thousands of people at the Olympic torch lighting later that day.

And the British press was even less kind, saying Romney was “devoid of charm, offensive and a wazzock.”

“Good old Mitt,” The Guardian‘s Paul Harris tweeted. “His charm offensive in the UK failed to be charming, but he really pulled off the offensive bit.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Watch this video from the Fox News’ Fox News Sunday, broadcast July 29, 2012.