{UAH} British lawmakers tell their prime minister: Your groveling in front of Trump is embarrassing

British lawmakers tell their prime minister: Your groveling in front of Trump is embarrassing

The inside track on Washington politics.

British Prime Minister Theresa May is set to meet President Trump on Jan. 25, becoming the first world leader to meet him since he took office. But British politicians have expressed concerns at the type of ties that might be forged. (Reuters)

LONDON — Since Donald Trump was elected president, perhaps no U.S. ally has gone to greater lengths to make friends than British Prime Minister Theresa May.

As other European leaders have kept their distance, wary of the new president's seeming willingness to veer away from core Western values, May has repeatedly stressed her support.

Her government boycotted European gatherings to wring hands over Trump's erratic behavior, and she echoed the reality star's talking points by pointedly criticizing the Obama administration's stance on Israel during the 44^th president's final days in office.

She even sent Trump a highly symbolic Christmas gift: a copy of a wartime speech Winston Churchill delivered to the American people, along with a letter expressing belief that the "unity and fraternal association" between the United States and Britain is "as true today as it has ever been."

May's loyalty is being rewarded this week with a plum designation: On Friday, she will be the first foreign leader to meet Trump in the Oval Office. The meeting will give her a prime chance to pitch Trump on a U.S.-Britain free-trade deal, an agreement that May has signaled will be a top priority of her premiership as Britain prepares to leave the European Union.

[When Theresa meets Donald: A geopolitical odd couple with big implications for the West]

But as she was winging across the Atlantic on Thursday, she also faced a wicked backlash in London from lawmakers who say her courting of the new U.S. president has gone too far.

The criticism came after Downing Street released excerpts from a speech May intends to deliver Thursday at a retreat for Republican congressmen in Philadelphia. Trump is also due to address the gathering.

In her speech, May seems to endorse Trump's view of himself as a turnaround artist who can restore America to lost greatness. Both the United States and Britain, she is due to tell the Republicans, are "rediscover[ing] our confidence."

"As you renew your nation just as we renew ours — we have the opportunity — indeed the responsibility — to renew the Special Relationship for this new age," May will say, according to the excerpts. "We have the opportunity to lead, together, again."

May's office also said she would be bearing gifts when she meets the Trumps: "a hamper full of produce" from the prime minister's country retreat, Chequers, for first lady Melania Trump; and for the president, "an engraved Quaich" — a two-handled cup that is an ancient Scottish symbol of friendship.

But back in London, May's friendship mission was falling flat, as lawmakers wondered how their leader could seemingly ignore Trump's more extreme positions and actions, include his advocacy of torture, his promotion of protectionism and his proposed ban on Syrian refugees.

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Gwokto La'Kitgum

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