Well, that's a relief: UK foreign minister assures 'no evidence of hacking' in ambassador's Trump leak row

RT
Thu, 11 Jul 2019 19:20 UTC

© mbell1975/Flickr

British Ambassador Residence Washington, DC

The UK government has found no evidence of computer hacking of emails sent by the British ambassador to the US that heavily criticised US President Donald Trump and his administration, a UK government official has revealed.

Foreign Minister Sir Alan Duncan told MPs in the House of Commons on Thursday that they are focusing their investigation on individuals within the UK system, after failing to find any evidence of outside interference.

We do not, at the moment, have any evidence that this was a hack so our focus is on finding someone within the system who has released illicitly these communications.

© Otago Daily Times/Arab News Today

US President Donald Trump • UK Ambassador to US Kim Darroch

Sir Kim Darroch, Britain's ambassador to the US since January 2016, resigned on Wednesday over leaked cables in which he branded President Donald Trump's administration as "dysfunctional,""inept," and "incompetent."

In his statement he revealed that he wanted to "put an end" to the speculation around his future following the furore over the leaking of the damaging secret memos.

"The current situation is making it impossible for me to carry out my role as I would like..." Darroch wrote.

The diplomatic row between the two nations, who have consistently eulogized about their "special relationship" over many years escalated quickly. It provoked Trump into firing off a series of insulting tweets aimed at Darroch and UK PM Theresa May.

The US leader branded Britain's ambassador as "wacky","a very stupid guy", despite declaring that he didn't know him, "but have been told he is a pompous fool."

Comment: A political hit job? That what Trump's former communications chief Anthony Scaramucci told RT's Going Underground:

The UK diplomatic memo leak was a hit job on the British envoy to the US, while Trump is seizing the moment to "press" Britain for future talks, Trump's former communications chief Anthony Scaramucci told RT.

The leaking of the diplomatic cables was "a political hit job" on the British envoy Kim Darroch, financier and former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci told RT's Afshin Rattansi on his show, Going Underground.

The transition is going to happen in the UK government, and somebody wanted to embarrass him and knock him out of that post.

Darroch resigned on Wednesday after his memos were leaked to the press, in which he described President Trump's administration as "dysfunctional" and "diplomatically clumsy and inept." Speaking to RT before the resignation was publicly announced, Scaramucci argued that it would be "a huge mistake" for London to sack the envoy who is "very well liked in Washington."

Trump lashed out at Darroch after the leak, calling the UK diplomat "a very stupid guy" and "a pompous fool." The president also said he will no longer deal with him. Trump seized the opportunity to blast Prime Minister Theresa May as well, insisting she ignored his advice on Brexit and went her "own foolish way." Britain's Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, in turn, branded Trump's outburst "disrespectful and wrong."

Scaramucci, who founded the investment firm SkyBridge Capital, stressed that Trump has "thin skin" when it comes to public criticism. "I don't think the president is actually mad at Ambassador Darroch. But that's the president's style: you hit the president [and] he's going to hit you ten times," he said.

As damaging as the leaks may be to relations between Britain and the US, professional diplomats are expected to stay blunt and not mince words in their internal correspondence, Scaramucci noted.

This was an embarrassment. [But] ambassadors all over the world [operate in a way that] if they got their internal confidential assessment memos leaked, there would be a lot of embarrassing conversations. It's not a big deal.

Nevertheless, Trump wants to use the fallout from the scandal by "pressing down" on London ahead of trade talks in the future, Scaramucci said.