Scandal over British ambassador to the US

Last weekend, British newspaper The Mail on Sunday quoted excerpts from confidential memos of Kim Darroch, the British Ambassador to the US, in which he called the Trump Administration "inept". This has triggered a debate in Great Britain about whether or not he should now resign.

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The Daily Telegraph (GB) /

Telling the truth must be allowed

The real scandal is that the ambassador's memos were leaked to the media, former British foreign minister William Hague comments in The Daily Telegraph:

“If such reports ever had to be composed with an eye on avoiding giving offence to the foreign government or country in question they would be utterly useless. Whoever decided to leak these documents is damaging the ability of our own ministers and officials to work on the basis of the trusted exchange of informed views. … Indeed, the idea that somebody who tells the truth as he sees it should be asked to leave his post prematurely should be completely unacceptable in any part of government.”

The Guardian (GB) /

A diplomat should never give offence

The Guardian, on the other hand, believes that Kim Darroch should not remain British Ambassador to the US after the incident:

“It is hard to see how Darroch can continue to lobby effectively on Britain's behalf in Trump’s Washington - not least for highly implausible trade concessions post-Brexit. Yes, as Darroch's apologists claim, diplomats are expected to speak the truth. Yes, he said little that anyone could not read in a newspaper, which makes it baffling why he bothered to express such simplistic opinions at all. But his profession is publicly to dissemble, to pretend, to practise courtesy and politesse. He may have thought his opinions would be kept secret. If so, he was a fool.”