Trump changes tune on ex-British ambassador: ‘We wish him well’

President Trump on Friday offered praise for the former British ambassador to the U.S. days after he essentially forced Kim Darroch’s resignation by freezing him out of the White House. 

Darroch announced Wednesday he would leave his post, saying his position became untenable after leaked cables showed he criticized Trump as “inept.” Trump responded by bashing him as a “very stupid guy” and a “pompous fool.” 

{mosads}“Well, I wish the British ambassador well. Some people just told me — too bad, but they said he actually said very good things about me,” the president said. 

Trump’s abrupt change in tune came after other cables became public that revealed Darroch likened Trump to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character in “The Terminator,” saying he “may emerge from the flames, battered but intact” during his run for reelection. 

The president on Thursday retweeted the excerpt, which had been shared by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) who said that Darroch “understood the strength of President Trump and referred to him as the ‘Terminator’ who is indestructible and will most likely be reelected.”

“I guess I quoted Lindsey Graham today, he said some things that were pretty nice from the British ambassador,” Trump told reporters, who added that the British government has to “stop their leaking problems.” 

The leak of secret cables, combined with Darroch’s resignation, ramped up tensions between the U.S. and U.K, who have long claimed to have a “special relationship” among allies.

Simon McDonald, the head of the British Foreign Office, said it was the first time in his nearly four-decade career that a head of state refused to work with a British ambassador.

Darroch’s blunt assessment of the president and his administration appeared in memos intended for a private audience of ministers and other top officials in London, but they were published last Sunday by a U.K. newspaper. 

Trump’s anger with the ambassador’s comments compounded divisions emerging between the U.S. and U.K. governments over Britain’s handling of its exit from the European Union as well as the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran.

The president declared he would no longer work with Darroch and disinvited him from a dinner with the emir of Qatar in Washington. Trump also accused outgoing British Prime Minister Theresa May of handing Brexit in a “foolish way.”