Trump rips May after diplomatic incident

US President Donald Trump teed off on British Prime Minister Theresa May's handling of Brexit on Monday in the aftermath of leaked negative memos about the White House by her nation's ambassador to Washington.

The memos and cables by Kim Darroch, United Kingdom ambassador to the United States, were divulged to the Mail on Sunday, a London tabloid newspaper. The news aggravated Trump and put London on the defensive.

On Monday, Darroch was disinvited from a dinner that US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was scheduled to host in Washington with Trump and the emir of Qatar, bloomberg.com reported, citing a US official.

In a Twitter post on Monday, Trump criticized May's approach to Brexit — Great Britain's long-delayed departure from the European Union — saying she disregarded his advice.

"I have been very critical about the way the U.K. and Prime Minister Theresa May handled Brexit," Trump wrote. "What a mess she and her representatives have created. I told her how it should be done, but she decided to go another way. I do not know the Ambassador, but he is not liked or well...thought of within the U.S. We will no longer deal with him.

"The good news for the wonderful United Kingdom is that they will soon have a new Prime Minister. While I thoroughly enjoyed the magnificent State Visit last month, it was the Queen who I was most impressed with!" he wrote.

Ten Downing Street looked to lower the temperature on Monday.

"Contact has been made with the Trump administration, setting out our view that we believe the leak is unacceptable," May's spokesman told reporters. "It is, of course, a matter of regret that this has happened."

Hours after Trump's tweet, May's spokesman said Darroch "continues to have the prime minister's full support".

British Trade Minister Liam Fox, who is visiting Washington, told BBC radio he would apologize to Trump's daughter Ivanka, whom he was due to meet.

"I will be apologizing for the fact that either our civil service or elements of our political class have not lived up to the expectations that either we have or the United States has about their behavior, which in this particular case has lapsed in a most extraordinary and unacceptable way," he said.

"Malicious leaks of this nature ... can actually lead to a damage to that relationship, which can therefore affect our wider security interest."

In confidential memos dating from 2017 to the present, Darroch said reports of infighting in the White House were "mostly true", and last month said there was confusion about Trump's decision to call off a military strike on Iran.

"We don't really believe this Administration is going to become substantially more normal; less dysfunctional; less unpredictable; less faction riven; less diplomatically clumsy and inept," Darroch wrote in one memo.

Nigel Farage, leader of the Brexit Party, said figures such as Darroch would be "not be around" if ex-foreign minister Boris Johnson, a candidate to replace May, were chosen by Conservative Party members.

"Darroch's appalling slur on Donald Trump is just another example of how the British establishment has squandered the opportunity to take advantage of an Anglophile president who is a natural ally of this country," Farage wrote in an opinion piece on The Telegraph's website.

Darroch has held the diplomatic post since January 2016. In November 2016, a memo by Darroch to May was leaked in which he said Trump, then-president elect, could be influenced by the British government.

The following week, Trump tweeted that Farage should serve as ambassador to the United States. The suggestion was downplayed by Downing Street, which said that there was no vacancy and that the UK has "an excellent ambassador to the US".

Farage, who is friendly with Trump, told BBC radio he would not be interested in replacing Darroch: "I don't think I'm the right man for that job."

Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt, a possible successor to May, said: "I have made it clear that I don't share the ambassador's assessment of either the U.S. administration or relations with the US administration, but I do defend his right to make that frank assessment."

An inquiry was started to determine who was behind the second major disclosure of confidential material this year. May's spokesman said police would be involved if criminality were evident.

May fired defense minister Gavin Williamson two months ago after secret discussions in the National Security Council about Chinese telecom firm Huawei Technologies Co Ltd were leaked to the media, and an inquiry concluded that he was responsible.

Williamson denied any involvement, and police said there was no reason for a criminal investigation.

Reuters contributed to this story.