The leader of the UK’s main opposition party, Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn, has accused Donald Trump of trying to “interfere” in Britain’s upcoming general election to get “his friend” Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, elected.
It came after Mr Trump said in an interview that Mr Corbyn would be "so bad" for the UK if he became prime minister as the US President gave his support to Mr Johnson. The comments came in an interview on LBC Radio with Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage, who Mr Trump appeared to urge to form some sort of alliance with Mr Johnson.
“I have great relationships with many of the leaders, including Boris, he’s a fantastic man. I think he’s the exact right guy for the times. I know that you and him will end up doing something that could be terrific. If you and he get together, it’s [an] unstoppable force,” Mr Trump told Mr Farage over the phone.
Donald Trump is trying to interfere in Britain’s election to get his friend Boris Johnson elected.
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) October 31, 2019
It was Trump who said in June the NHS is “on the table”. And he knows if Labour wins US corporations won’t get their hands on it.
Our NHS is not for sale.pic.twitter.com/AUhht3pCgL
“Corbyn would be so bad for your country, he’d be so bad, he’d take you in such a bad way. He’s take you into such bad places. But your country has tremendous potential, it’s a great country,” he added.
Mr Corbyn hit back and said only a Labour government could prevent US companies getting their “hands” on the UK’s National Health System.
“Donald Trump is trying to interfere in Britain’s election to get his friend Boris Johnson elected,” Mr Corbyn wrote on Twitter.
But Mr Trump warned that Brexit and the withdrawal agreement the UK has with the European Union could harm the chances of a trade deal with the US. The UK is set to leave the EU on January 31 2020 after a three-month extension was granted earlier this week by Brussels.
“We want to do trade with UK, and they want to do trade with us," Mr Trump said. "And to be honest with you, this deal, under certain aspects of the deal - you can't do it, you can't do it, you can't trade. We can't make a trade deal with the UK."