Donald Trump has invited Boris Johnson to celebrate his Election win with a ‘victory tour’ of the United States next month – but the PM is ‘in no rush to accept’.
The President made the offer during his congratulatory call to Mr Johnson after he won his 80-seat majority, telling the Prime Minister that he and girlfriend Carrie Symonds could ‘go wherever they wanted’ in the States.
However, it is understood Mr Johnson is reluctant to visit while the President’s impeachment drama is playing out and before he has delivered Brexit on January 31.
Donald Trump has invited Boris Johnson to celebrate his Election win with a ‘victory tour’ of the United States next month – but the PM is ‘in no rush to accept’
The President (pictured today) made the offer during his congratulatory call to Mr Johnson
Sources also suggest Mr Johnson prefers to go after a major Cabinet reshuffle scheduled for February, when he is widely expected to name Michael Gove as his new trade supremo. That would allow the PM to take Mr Gove with him ahead of crucial negotiations over a post-Brexit trade deal with the US.
Mr Johnson and Mr Trump have previously exchanged glowing compliments, with the President hailing Mr Johnson as a ‘good man’, while the Prime Minister has saluted Mr Trump’s ‘many, many good qualities’.
But during this month’s visit to the Nato summit in Watford, No 10 appeared anxious that a classic Trump gaffe would be a gift to Labour and Jeremy Corbyn. The Mail on Sunday revealed that Mr Johnson begged the President to pull out of an interview with Good Morning Britain host – and MoS columnist – Piers Morgan.
Priti ‘to control sentencing’
Home Secretary Priti Patel would be handed control of sentencing powers under a radical shake-up of Whitehall being drawn up
Home Secretary Priti Patel would be handed control of sentencing powers under a radical shake-up of Whitehall being drawn up.
The move to give responsibility for prisons and parole conditions to Ms Patel – who once advocated the return of the death penalty – follows a series of rows over the release of London Bridge killer Usman Khan and plans to free black cab rapist John Worboys. No 10 is also looking to strip the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government of responsibility for ‘community cohesion’ amid concerns that anti-radicalisation measures need to be ‘toughened up’, with the Home Office taking over.
The plans are likely to form part of wider reforms being drawn up by Boris Johnson’s adviser Dominic Cummings, including creating a standalone department to manage borders and immigration. A Government source said: ‘The Home Office should have complete control over crime and punishment, an issue which came up repeatedly on the doorstep, and not be distracted by border controls and immigration.’
Boris’s Christmas boost for our boys in the baltic
By Glen Owen Political Editor for The Mail On Sunday
Boris Johnson channelled his hero Winston Churchill yesterday as he served Christmas lunch to British troops manning Nato’s faultline with Russia in the Baltic.
Standing next to a Challenger 2 tank named after the wartime leader, the Prime Minister thanked the soldiers from the Queen’s Royal Hussars – Churchill’s old regiment – for the sacrifices which their service in Estonia entailed.
Buoyed by his Election victory – and the passage of his Brexit legislation through the Commons on Friday after months of Parliamentary gridlock – Mr Johnson told troops at the Tapa military base, near Estonia’s capital Tallinn: ‘Everybody in our country is going to be celebrating Christmas with their families and you’re going to be here – a long way away, a pretty cold place… What you’re doing is incredibly important because the reason everybody in our country can have Christmas in peace and security is because of what you’re doing here.’
Standing next to a Challenger 2 tank named after the wartime leader, the Prime Minister thanked the soldiers from the Queen’s Royal Hussars – Churchill’s old regiment – for the sacrifices which their service in Estonia entailed
The base is home to 850 British troops – the UK’s largest operational deployment in Europe – who lead the Nato battlegroup defending Estonia’s eastern border with Russia, along with personnel from Estonia, France and Denmark.
Mr Johnson addressed the troops before posing for selfies and donning a red apron to dish out turkey in the base’s canteen.
He told the soldiers that they were the ‘most vivid and powerful expression’ that Britain is committed to the security and stability of the whole of Europe.
He added: ‘What you’re doing is showing Nato works and that it’s an alliance to which we in our country are absolutely committed.’
The base is home to 850 British troops – the UK’s largest operational deployment in Europe. Pictured: Mr Johnson during Christmas lunch with the troops
However, he slightly marred the Churchillian rhetoric by asking one soldier: ‘Are you enjoying it here?’ before pointing to the grey northern skies and the gathering dusk and saying: ‘It’s quite sort of bleak, isn’t it?’
Mr Johnson, who was met by the Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas, told troops: ‘It’s an incredible thing for me to come to Estonia because when I was a kid – when I was your age – Estonia was part of the Soviet Union and we’re now here helping to protect Estonia’s security.
‘It’s a fantastic thing and it’s a deeply moving thing for someone from my generation.’
The Prime Minister added: ‘Thank you very much for what you’re doing. I hope you have a very, very peaceful, happy time and have a happy Christmas everybody.’
Mr Johnson addressed the troops before posing for selfies and donning a red apron to dish out turkey in the base’s canteen.
During the visit, Mr Johnson defended the controversial £4 billion takeover of UK defence and aerospace company Cobham by a US private equity firm. The Government approved the sale of Cobham to Advent International on Friday after the deal was delayed because of national security concerns.
Mr Johnson insisted: ‘I think it’s very important that the UK should have an open and dynamic market economy.
‘A lot of checks have been gone through to make sure that in that particular case all the security issues that might be raised can be satisfied and the UK will continue to be a very, very creative and dynamic contributor to that section of industry and all others’.