British Prime Minister Theresa May played “partisan” favorites during her trip to the United States, according to a pair of Senate Democrats who alleged she made herself a political prop for Republicans.
“We write to express our disappointment that your first official visit to the United States as Prime Minister was partisan in nature,” Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy and New Hampshire’s Jeanne Shaheen wrote in a Monday letter. “You are the first serving foreign leader to speak at a congressional Republican retreat. We believe your decision to do so, and to decline to meet with congressional Democrats in a similar fashion, was a breach of protocol.”
May told congressional Republicans that the United States and the United Kingdom ought “to renew our special relationship and to recommit ourselves to the responsibility of leadership in the modern world.” That speech came as part of an attempt to forge personal ties with President Trump, who praised the Brexit vote that brought May to power, but angered Democrats along the way.
“We hope that in the future your government will choose a more balanced relationship with our entire elected government, not give preference to one party,” Murphy and Shaheen wrote.
Although Trump’s praise for the British decision to leave the European Union could lead to a friendly relationship with May, the new prime minister still had work to do. British opposition leader Nigel Farage met Trump first, which led the new president to suggest May name him as ambassador to the United States. And Boris Johnson, the British foreign minister, had mocked Trump during the 2016 election cycle.
“So they probably felt completely on the back foot,” Fiona Hill, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, told Foreign Policy. “I’m not even sure that the president-elect even knew who Theresa May was.”
