The Foreign Secretary has playfully hit back at a French diplomat who claimed Britain’s influence had “vanished” in Washington DC after Brexit.

Gérard Araud, France’s outgoing ambassador to the US, had said his UK counterpart had complained of being upstaged by the French in meetings with American officials.

Sharing a story about the comments, Jeremy Hunt tweeted: “Mon cher ami @GerardAraud I am sure you enjoyed making hay with the UK's temporary Brexit travails but until there is a French President's bust in the Oval Office we will not take any lessons in having good relations with Washington”.

Signing off with a winking face emoji, he attached a picture of Theresa May and Donald Trump posing next to the bust of Winston Churchill that adorns the US president’s office.

Mr Trump replaced the bust of the prime minister, which had been moved to another part of the White House by his predecessor Barack Obama.

Some social media users mocked Mr Hunt, however and reminded him of the existence of the Statue of Liberty – a gift from the French nation in 1886 that has become a symbol of the United States itself.

The claim by the French ambassador came on the same day as the announcement that Donald Trump would make a state visit to Britain in June, a diplomatic coup for Theresa May.

The prime minister was quick to seek close ties with the Trump administration when she came to office, putting her at odds with UK public opinion, and others including the Speaker of the Commons John Bercow.

But Mr Trump has been a fickle partner. Though the US president has welcomed Brexit and originally said he would offer the UK a “large scale” trade deal after it left, he has since cooled after the shape of the UK’s exit became clear.

In November he embarrassed Ms May by saying her Brexit plan meant the UK may not be able to trade with the US after it left the EU, and that it sounded “great” for the European Union.

The issue of a possible US-UK trade deal has been controversial in Britain because of warnings from trade expects that the US might insist on opening British markets to American food standards.

Criminals who worked for Trump Show all 5 1 /5 Criminals who worked for Trump Criminals who worked for Trump Michael Cohen Former lawyer for Donald Trump was sentenced to three years in prison on counts involving evading income tax, false disclosure of the hush money paid to Stormy Daniels and another hush money charge Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Paul Manafort Former campaign manager for Trump Manafort was found guilty in February 2018 of five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failure to disclose a foreign bank account. The crimes occurred prior to his appointment in Trump's campaign Getty Criminals who worked for Trump George Papadopoulos Former Trump campaign adviser Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in October 2017. He had lied about making contact with a professor who claimed that the Russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton. He was sentenced to 14 days in jail Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Michael Flynn Former White House National Security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in December 2017. He had lied about conversations that he had with the Russian ambassador to the US during Trump's Presidential campaign. He was not given prison time due to his "significant assistance" to the Mueller investigation Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Rick Gates Deputy chairman of Trump's presidential campaign Gates pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in February 2018 AFP/Getty