Donald Trump's former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, has said in a UK interview that Prime Minister Theresa May is "not terribly sophisticated" and that she does "not understanding" the complexities of negotiating Brexit.
Mr Bannon, who left the White House in August 2017, compared Miss May to ardent Brexiteer Boris Johnson who he lauded as "inspiring" and a potential future British Prime Minister.
Donald Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon tells Sky News that Boris Johnson is a "guy with big ideas" and a "role model" who would make a good Prime Minister
— Sky News (@SkyNews) 18 March 2019
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Mr Bannon said that he recalled talks between Miss May and President Trump on how best to conduct the Brexit talks last year. He told Sky News in the interview that Miss may "came over [to Washington], Trump sat there and said 'Listen, number one: overshoot the target on your deal because it will come apart. Number two: get on with it — you ought to be on terms agreed within six months. And number three: use every arrow in your quiver even if you have to do litigation later.''
"She laughed it off. To be brutally frank about it she's not terribly sophisticated. I don't think she understood the complexity she was going into," Bannon added.
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Playing to the idea that Mr Johnson — often referred to as 'BoJo' in the UK — may be a potential successor to Miss May, Bannon said that, "I think Boris Johnson would make a good prime minister. I think Boris Johnson is a guy with big ideas."
"I think he's the new recreated Boris Johnson who's lost 30 pounds — he's got a new haircut, he's a role model — the way he's lost so much weight…very inspiring," Bannon added.
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Bannon's comments come on the heels of veiled criticism last week by President Trump of Miss May's negotiations with the EU. "I think it could have been negotiated in a different manner. I hate to see everything being ripped apart right now," the president opined, adding that it was a "shame" to see.
The fate of Brexit remains as ambiguous as ever. Miss May is expected to head to Brussels on 21 March for an EU summit where it is expected she will ask for an extension on the March 29 deadline after MPs voted for such a move last week in parliament by 412 to 202 votes. However, EU leaders have warned that for there to be such an extension, Miss May's government would have to put forward a clear proposal for what their next moves are to be.
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