U.S. President Donald Trump’s unsolicited opinion of a potential replacement for former British Prime Minister Theresa May was “unacceptable,” U.K. Labour opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn said Saturday.
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“President Trump’s attempt to decide who will be Britain’s next prime minister is an entirely unacceptable interference in our country’s democracy,” he said.
“The next PM should be chosen not by the U.S. president, nor by 100,000 unrepresentative Tory party members, but by the British people in a general election,” Corbyn said.
Ahead of his state visit to Britain Monday, President Trump told the Sun newspaper he felt the former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson “would do a very good job. I think he would be excellent.”
Trump had also praised Johnson on his last visit to Britain in July 2018, saying that he thought he had the skills needed to be prime minister, shortly after Johnson resigned in protest at May’s handling of Brexit.
After failing three times this year to get parliament to back her plan for leaving the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May said last week she would step down as leader of the governing Conservative Party on June 7 to open the way for a contest to succeed her.
So far, 12 Members of Parliament have said they will stand in the election of new leadership. They will be whittled down by their fellow lawmakers to a final two before grassroots party members make the final choice.