'What a mess': Donald Trump's savage tweet about trip to UK

Donald Trump launched an extraordinary attack on outgoing British prime minister Theresa May as he revealed it was the Queen who made his UK trip memorable.

With the leak of diplomatic cables highly critical of his presidency, the US president took to Twitter on Monday, slamming Ms May’s handling of Brexit.

London has been scrambling to stem the damage caused by the weekend release of confidential telegrams in which its envoy to Washington, Kim Darroch, described the US leader as "inept" and his White House as "uniquely dysfunctional".

Visibly angered by Ms May's continuing support for her ambassador, Mr Trump assailed the prime minister over her handling of fraught Brexit negotiations and welcomed her impending departure from office.

"What a mess she and her representatives have created," the US president fumed in a series of tweets.

“I told her how it should be done, but she decided to go another way.

"The good news for the wonderful United Kingdom is that they will soon have a new Prime Minister.”

As for London's man in Washington, Mr Trump declared he would have no further contact with him.

"I do not know the Ambassador, but he is not liked or well thought of within the US," the president said, doubling down on the weekend’s comments claiming his administration were "not big fans" of Mr Darroch.

"We will no longer deal with him," Mr Trump vowed.

Finally he revealed while Ms May failed to leave a lasting impression on him during his recent UK trip, the Queen more than made up for it.

“While I thoroughly enjoyed the magnificent State Visit last month, it was the Queen who I was most impressed with!” he tweeted.

The cables' publication in the Mail on Sunday newspaper came just a month after Mr Trump enjoyed a state visit to Britain that included a 41-gun salute welcome at Buckingham Palace and a banquet dinner with the Queen.

The incident threatens to complicate London's efforts to strike a new trade agreement with key ally the United States, in hope of mitigating potential damage from Britain's withdrawal from the European Union.

Ms May's office called the leak "unacceptable", but said "the prime minister has full faith in her ambassador to Washington”.

Darroch has support of British officials

British officials defended Darroch as carrying out his duties by providing "frank" accounts of 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, if identified, would face "very serious consequences".

His US affairs deputy, Alan Duncan, told parliament police could launch their own investigation "if evidence of criminality is found”.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper said such memos were 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 Ms May ends her three-year spell in power later this month.

Brexit-supporting former foreign minister Boris Johnson is the favourite to replace her in a leadership contest against Mr Hunt.

The winner will get to appoint his own US envoy by the time Mr Darroch's term expires in January.

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