AGL 40.05 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.13%)
AIRLINK 130.45 Increased By ▲ 0.92 (0.71%)
BOP 6.78 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (1.5%)
CNERGY 4.62 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.22%)
DCL 9.08 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (1.57%)
DFML 43.31 Increased By ▲ 1.62 (3.89%)
DGKC 84.20 Increased By ▲ 0.43 (0.51%)
FCCL 33.00 Increased By ▲ 0.23 (0.7%)
FFBL 78.25 Increased By ▲ 2.78 (3.68%)
FFL 11.70 Increased By ▲ 0.23 (2.01%)
HUBC 110.95 Increased By ▲ 0.40 (0.36%)
HUMNL 14.68 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (0.82%)
KEL 5.53 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (2.6%)
KOSM 8.28 Decreased By ▼ -0.12 (-1.43%)
MLCF 39.80 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.03%)
NBP 60.99 Increased By ▲ 0.70 (1.16%)
OGDC 199.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.16 (-0.08%)
PAEL 26.66 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.04%)
PIBTL 7.83 Increased By ▲ 0.17 (2.22%)
PPL 160.26 Increased By ▲ 2.34 (1.48%)
PRL 26.81 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (0.3%)
PTC 18.55 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (0.49%)
SEARL 83.36 Increased By ▲ 0.92 (1.12%)
TELE 8.17 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-1.68%)
TOMCL 34.47 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.12%)
TPLP 9.09 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (0.33%)
TREET 17.07 Decreased By ▼ -0.40 (-2.29%)
TRG 60.00 Decreased By ▼ -1.32 (-2.15%)
UNITY 27.60 Increased By ▲ 0.17 (0.62%)
WTL 1.43 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (3.62%)
BR100 10,534 Increased By 127 (1.22%)
BR30 31,898 Increased By 185 (0.58%)
KSE100 98,258 Increased By 929.8 (0.96%)
KSE30 30,552 Increased By 359.8 (1.19%)

Britain scrambled on Monday to stem the damage to its relations with Washington by finding the leaker of diplomatic cables in which the UK ambassador called US President Donald Trump "inept". The confidential telegrams from ambassador Kim Darroch created a political firestorm in London after their publication in the Mail on Sunday newspaper.
One of them called Trump's White House "uniquely dysfunctional" while another characterised the US leader as "incompetent" and "insecure". Their release came just a month after Trump visibly enjoyed himself during a state visit that included a 41-gun salute welcome at Buckingham Palace and a banquet dinner with the queen. They also threatened to complicate London's efforts to strike a new US trade agreement that could mitigate potential damage from Britain's withdrawal from the European Union.
Trump fired back by saying that people in his administration were "not big fans" of London's man in Washington. "We are not big fans of that man and he has not served the UK well. So I can understand it, and I can say things about him but I won't bother," Trump told reporters. UK officials defended Darroch as a professional who was carrying out his duties by providing "frank" assessments of the latest developments in Washington.
"Our ambassadors provide honest, unvarnished assessments of politics in their country," a Downing Street spokesman said. "As you'd expect, contact has been made with the Trump administration setting out our view that we believe the leak is unacceptable." Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the culprit would face "very serious consequences if and when we find out who was responsible".
His US affairs deputy Alan Duncan later told parliament that the police could launch their own investigation "if evidence of criminality is found. "The most important focus is to establish who is responsible for this despicable leak," Duncan said. The Daily Telegraph newspaper said such memos are seen by up to 100 people working in the Foreign Office and other government departments.
"But it would require a single official or minister to have access to the whole cache, inevitably casting the spotlight on senior ministers," it wrote. The immediate suspicion of the London papers fell on Brexit-backing players in a power struggle within the governing Conservative Party. British politics are in for a major revamp once Prime Minister Theresa May ends her three-year spell in power later this month.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019

Comments

Comments are closed.