The former British ambassador to the US is wry and astute in his account of how he fell foul of Donald Trump and Boris Johnson
The old Washington saying goes that if you want a friend you can trust, get a dog. In July 2019, Kim Darroch, the former British ambassador to the US, needed a dog. Badly. First came news that the Mail on Sunday had got hold of a series of leaked diplomatic cables and a highly classified letter, which outlined his candid assessment of Donald Trump and the first six months of his presidency. That was always going to cause “please return to your seats and stow away your tray tables” turbulence. But how much would only become apparent when the president exercised his Twitter thumbs. Then came the TV debate for the Tory leadership when Boris Johnson, the out-and-out favourite, conspicuously failed to offer Darroch his support.
Collateral Damage is a sharply written book, full of dry and wry observations of a lifelong public servant who, having spent his career shunning the spotlight, suddenly finds himself at the heart of a media firestorm, incurring the wrath of a thin-skinned president and a thick-skinned soon-to-be prime minister who seemingly doesn’t want to expend political capital saving our man in Washington.
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