Trump went on to criticise UK government policy on energy and immigration, before adding “this is not the age of Churchill”.
Earlier on Tuesday, the president criticised the PM to the Sun newspaper, saying: “It’s very sad to see that the relationship is obviously not what it was”, adding that Sir Keir had “not been helpful”, adding he “never thought I’d see that from the UK”.
Lord Darroch, former British ambassador to the US during Trump’s first term, said the comments were “pretty brutal”, adding there was “obviously a serious rift there now”.
“Trump is very unhappy about that denial of British airbases and I think that anger will hang around for a while.
“There have been in history ups and downs between No 10 and the White House – not many quite as brutal as this in terms of the language the president has used.”
However, he cautioned that this was an “impulsive and unpredictable” president and he said “some of the bedrock of the special relationship is still there” in terms of the military and intelligence cooperation being “as close and effective as ever”.
He added the pair are likely to get past the disagreement because “in the end there’s business needs to get done between London and Washington and we need a functioning relationship to do it”.
There was no immediate reaction to the broadside from Downing Street, where aides insist Sir Keir has acted in the British national interest, with a sense of where British public opinion is.
Treasury Minister Torsten Bell told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme that “on the ground” the US and UK were continuing to work closely together and that “what’s most important is that in practice, we’re seeing that cooperation happen”.
He said that while the UK had taken a different view to the US, he said he believed “most of the country supports the prime minister in that”.
“We’re really clear about what we’re saying, we’re saying – we don’t support trying to deliver regime change from the air, but we are going to do what’s necessary to protect British nationals.”