Nigel Farage says Donald Trump’s team hasn’t forgotten ‘rude’ comments made by Theresa May’s Government

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Donald Trump’s team has not forgotten “rude” comments made about him by Theresa May’s Government in the run-up to the US election, Nigel Farage has said.

The Ukip interim leader was the first foreign politician to meet the President-elect on Saturday after Mr Trump’s surprise victory last week.

Mr Farage described Mr Trump and his advisers as “pro-Britain” and said he had been invited to New York because of his reputation as an outspoken outsider in UK politics.

“[Mr Trump] was very grateful I put my head over the parapet and he recognised that. His whole team are pro-Britain. I am extremely optimistic about Britain’s future,” he told The Telegraph.

The anti-EU campaigner said while Mr Trump told him he had had a “nice conversation” with Ms May on the phone, members of the President-elect’s team had reservations about views previously expressed by her Cabinet.

“Some of his team had reservations about what members of the cabinet have said during the election,” Mr Farage told the newspaper. “Believe you me, his team are conscious of the comments.”

In December, Mr Trump claimed some predominantly Muslim areas in London and elsewhere in the country had become “so radicalised that police are afraid for their own lives”.

He called for a ban on all Muslims entering the US following attacks in Paris which killed 130 and were claimed by the so-called Islamic State.

Ms May, Home Secretary at the time, said his remarks were “nonsense” and showed he did not understand the UK.

“I think we all agree that the comments Donald Trump made in relation to Muslims were divisive, unhelpful and wrong,” she said amid a debate on whether Mr Trump should be prevented from entering the country for hate speech.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who was Mayor of London at the time, said Mr Trump's “ill-informed comments” were “complete and utter nonsense”.

In an interview with Fox News yesterday, Mr Farage said: “Mrs May’s team have been quite rude about Trump, so there are some fences to be mended”.

He also said he was “extremely optimistic” that the UK could establish a post-Brexit trade deal with America after his meeting with Mr Trump.

After the Republican candidate’s victory, Theresa May said she was looking forward to working with President-elect Trump and said Britain and America would remain “strong and close partners”.

But she was the tenth world leader Mr Trump spoke to when he won the election, following calls to the heads of Egypt, Ireland, Mexico, Israel, Turkey, India, Japan, Australia and South Korea.