DONALD Trump “totally hates” Nicola Sturgeon, a former Whitehall staffer has said.

As the US President sought to sabotage Theresa May’s softer Brexit plan by saying it would probably “kill” any chance of a future UK-US trade deal, the one-time UK Government insider reflected the exasperation felt by Whitehall about how the US President continually took up valuable phone time with the Prime Minister, “bitching about” the First Minister.

Ms Sturgeon has on many occasions made clear, while respecting the office of the President, she hates the current incumbent’s politics; her predecessor Alex Salmond famously fell out with Mr Trump over his golf course plans in Scotland.

The former staffer told the Huffington Post website the President “totally hates Nicola Sturgeon. He spends lots of his time bitching about Sturgeon. He loathes Salmond too. But why spend so much time talking about Sturgeon in a phone call with Theresa May?”

An SNP source said: "Maybe the President doesn’t like people who are willing to tell him a few home truths rather than just hold his hand – that might also explain his treatment of Angela Merkel, who has tended to stand up to him.

"In some ways it’s quite amusing to think of the President using time with the Prime Minister to rant about the First Minister, especially as she spends hardly any time talking about him – she is too busy getting on with her job of making Scotland a better place to live for everyone who calls our country home."

Mr Trump, who is due this afternoon to hold bilateral talks with the PM - rumoured to last just 10 minutes - at Chequers and have a working lunch followed by a joint press conference, has made incendiary comments in an apparently deliberate attempt to undermine his host’s centre-piece Brexit strategy.

He told The Sun: “[If]they do a deal like that, we would be dealing with the European Union instead of dealing with the UK, so it will probably kill the deal...I would say that that would probably end a major trade relationship with the United States.”

The President, who will take tea with Queen at Windsor Castle late this afternoon before flying to Scotland for a weekend of golf, also suggested Mrs May had gone back on her promises on Brexit.

He said: “The deal she is striking is a much ¬different deal than the one the people voted on. It was not the deal that was in the referendum. I have just been hearing this over the last three days.”

Mr Trump also made clear he would have negotiated with Brussels in a totally different way from the PM.

“I would have done it much differently. I actually told Theresa May how to do it but she didn’t agree, she didn’t listen to me. She wanted to go a different route. I would actually say that she probably went the opposite way. And that is fine. She should negotiate the best way she knows how. But it is too bad what is going on.”

His remarks sparked outraged responses from across the political divide.

Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston said Mr Trump was "determined to insult" the PM..

She said: "If signing up to the #Trump world view is the price of a deal, it's not worth paying."

Her Tory colleague Anna Soubry, a strident remainer, tweeted: "The more @realDonaldTrump insults and undermines @theresa_may the more he enhances her credibility. #Trump is a guest in #UK because we respect the great office he holds. Yet again he diminishes the standing of the great country he is meant to lead #USA #TrumpUK."

Labour’s Emily Thornberry also came to the PM’s defence, saying it had been "extraordinarily rude of Donald Trump to behave like this".

"She is his host. What did his mother teach him? This is not the way you behave," the Shadow Foreign Secretary told ITV's Good Morning Britain.

Ms Thornberry said the President’s comments on Mrs May’s Brexit strategy and his suggestion Boris Johnson would be a "great Prime Minister" were "rudeness upon rudeness upon rudeness".

However, her sympathy for the PM was not unqualified.

The Labour MP added: "You need to stand up to him. She is letting down our country by not standing up to him."

But leading Tory Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg said: "The UK wants to do a trade deal with Donald Trump and he said if you want to do a trade deal with the United States this isn't the way to do it. That's a matter of US foreign policy.”

The Somerset MP added: "Barack Obama came over just before an election to try and bully us into doing what the United States wanted. What Mr Trump is saying is that if the UK goes ahead with this deal the chances for a trade deal with the US are very low.

"If you can't do a trade deal with your closest ally who are you going to do one with?"

Foreign Office Minister Sir Alan Duncan insisted the Trump visit was going very well and, despite the President’s effective attempt to kill off the prospect of a UK-US trade under the Chequers Plan, argued one could still be agreed post Brexit.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: "Donald Trump is in many ways a controversialist, that's his style, that's the colour he brings to the world stage.

"And he is, in that sense, very unconventional. I don't think we see it as rude. And the atmosphere last night at the Blenheim dinner was very, very special actually.”

Sir Alan stressed how it was “very, very early days for the detailed negotiations with any trade deal, they are complicated, they do take time”.

He went on: "Each side will have its own interests. But, with the flexibility that is built into the White Paper proposals there is absolutely no reason, legally and practically, why a trade deal between us and the US cannot happen. And actually both sides do want it to happen."

READ MORE: Donald Trump’s Brexit intervention is perfectly reasonable, says Jacob Rees-Mogg

Commenting on Mr Trump’s assertion that Boris Johnson, who resigned as Foreign Secretary in protest at the PM’s compromise, Sir Alan said: "I don't think it's rude to praise Boris Johnson. I don't think that's rude at all. He's entitled to his opinion.

"But, the substantive discussions that will take place in Chequers today between the Prime Minister and the President will go into a lot of detail on a lot of things," he explained.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan hit out at Mr Trump's comments on crime in the UK capital, telling the Today programme: "I have seen no evidence that this crime has been brought in by immigration from Africa or other parts of the world to Europe."

READ MORE: Britain to keep free movement in EU, say Brexiters

Mr Khan defended allowing a giant balloon depicting Mr Trump as an angry baby to fly near Parliament, saying: "I shouldn't be the arbiter, as a politician, of what's in good taste or bad taste, what's important is it to be peaceful, and for it to be safe.

"And, frankly speaking, the idea that we limit the rights to protest, we limit the rights to free speech because it may cause offence to a foreign leader is a very, very slippery slope."

There is a large police presence outside the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where Mr Trump will shortly start the second day of his working visit to the UK. Upon arrival, he is expected to watch a joint special forces counter-terrorism demonstration.

READ MORE: Donald Trump’s Brexit intervention is perfectly reasonable, says Jacob Rees-Mogg

In response to the President’s comments on the Chequers Plan, Sir Vince Cable tore into him, saying: “Donald Trump is an enemy of Britain. His vile views and wild outbursts make the whole world a more dangerous place.



“Like his terrible twin Boris Johnson he is consumed by self-obsession and self-promotion. And Trump has the cheek to nominate Johnson as our Prime Minister - in return I recommend ABD (anyone but Donald) for President of our American friends and allies,” declared the Liberal Democrat leader.



He went on: “This is the final wake up call on Brexit; the Conservatives’ fudged plans are dead in the water. Thousands of British businesses and millions of British jobs are in mortal danger.



“Theresa May must pull back to stop us hurtling over the hard Brexit cliff. It is time to forget charlatans like Trump and secure more time to negotiate with our friends in Europe. Then we must give the British people the final say on any deal, including the option of an exit from Brexit,” added Sir Vince.

Key Trump quotes:

*On the Chequers Plan: “They do a deal like that, we would be dealing with the European Union instead of dealing with the UK, so it will probably kill the deal...I would say that that would probably end a major trade relationship with the United States.”

*On the PM’s negotiating strategy: “I would have done it much differently. I actually told Theresa May how to do it but she didn’t agree, she didn’t listen to me. She wanted to go a different route. I would actually say that she probably went the opposite way. And that is fine. She should negotiate the best way she knows how. But it is too bad what is going on.”

*On claims Mrs May is betraying voters: “The deal she is striking is a much ¬different deal than the one the people voted on. It was not the deal that was in the referendum. I have just been hearing this over the last three days.”

*On the PM: “I never said anything bad about her. She is a nice person. I get along with her very nicely.”

*On Boris Johnson: “I like him a lot. I have a lot of respect for Boris. I was very saddened to see he was leaving Government and I hope he goes back in at some point...I am not pitting one against the other. I am just saying he would be a great Prime Minister. He’s got what it takes.”

*On mass immigration: “Allowing the immigration to take place in Europe is a shame. It changed the fabric of Europe and, unless you act very quickly, it’s never going to be what it was...You are losing your culture. Look around. You go through certain areas that didn’t exist 10 or 15 years ago.”

*On Mr Khan: “You have a mayor who has done a terrible job in Londo...Take a look at the terrorism that is taking place. Look at what is going on in London. He has done a very bad job on terrorism. He has done a bad job on crime.”

*On London: “I used to love London as a city. I haven’t been there in a long time. But when they make you feel unwelcome, why would I stay there?”