Trump offers support to Johnson after Supreme Court ruling
Donald Trump insisted under-fire Prime Minister Boris Johnson is “not going anywhere”.
The US President gave his support to Mr Johnson after the PM faced calls to resign following the Supreme Court ruling that his suspension of Parliament was unlawful.
Mr Trump said his reaction to the judgment was to tell the PM “it’s just another day in the office” as they met at the United Nations in New York.
After the PM was questioned about resigning, Mr Trump said: “I’ll tell you, I know him well, he’s not going anywhere.”
Mr Johnson added: “No, no, no.”
The Prime Minister said: “We respect the judiciary in our country, we respect the court.
“I disagree profoundly with what they had to say. I think it was entirely right to go ahead with a plan for a Queen’s Speech.
“Frankly we need to get on with Brexit.
“Whether they voted to Leave or Remain they want to get this thing done by October 31 and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Mr Trump rebuked the reporter who asked whether the PM would resign, saying: “That was a very nasty question from a great American reporter.”
Mr Johnson added: “I think he was asking a question, to be fair, that a lot of British reporters would’ve asked.”
The US president said Mr Johnson remains the politician able to “get it done” over Brexit.
Asked if he had any advice for the PM to deal with the Supreme Court judges, Mr Trump said: “No I think he’s doing very well.
“I watch it very closely, He’s a friend of mine. I tend to watch friends closer than enemies.”
Mr Trump repeated his false claim that he was in the UK on the day of the Brexit vote and predicted the result.
He actually visited his Turnberry golf resort the day after the 2016 referendum.
“I happened to be there on the day of the vote,” Mr Trump said.
“I even had a prediction and it was a correct prediction.
“That was a long time ago and it takes a man like this to get it done,” he said, gesturing to Mr Johnson.
Mr Trump said his reaction to the Supreme Court judgment was to tell the PM “it’s just another day in the office”.
Mr Johnson added: “Well it’s more that it’s another day in Parliament.”
Mr Trump said he thought it would be a “terrible thing” if Britain did not leave the EU on October 31.
He cited victories of his own in the US supreme court in an effort to reassure the PM, although Mr Johnson has no ability to challenge the decision.
“We won the wall, we won asylum, we’ve won some of the biggest ones, we’ve had a great streak going,” he told Mr Johnson.
“We’ve won a lot of decisions and I’m sure that will happen to you.”
Mr Johnson added: “Well we are not counting our chickens and we’re full of respect, as I say, to the justice system.
“We’re going to respect what the court had to say but we’re going to get on and deliver Brexit.”
The US President suggested Mr Johnson is “going to make really great progress in October and November”.
“October,” Mr Johnson interjected.
Mr Trump continued: “The results are going to start to show in November. But it looks to be like he’s making good progress.
“We’re going to be discussing trade. We can quadruple our trade with the UK and I think we can really do a big job.”
Following the meeting, a Downing Street spokesman said: “The leaders underlined their shared commitment to agreeing an ambitious free trade agreement once UK leaves the EU on 31 October.
“They discussed Iran’s destabilising activity in the region and the importance of deescalating tensions, and agreed that Iran should never be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon.
“The Prime Minister raised climate change, and said the UK looked forward to hosting the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow next year.”
