May Says Trump Told Her to ‘Sue the EU’ in Brexit Talks

LONDON — Prime Minister Theresa May on Sunday revealed the advice President Donald Trump had given her on how to negotiate Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union: Go straight to court.

May was asked by the BBC about comments Trump made both in an interview in the British tabloid The Sun and later at a news conference Friday at Chequers, the prime minister’s country residence, northwest of London.

“He told me I should sue the EU,” May said.

Her comments will most likely be seen as pushing back against Trump, who had criticized her for ignoring his suggestion and whose interview in The Sun embarrassed the prime minister just as she was rolling out the red carpet for his working visit to England, one that she had hoped would showcase the strength of trans-Atlantic ties.

At the news conference, Trump, without revealing what he had advised May, said that she had seemed to regard his suggestion as too “brutal.”

Some hard-line supporters of the withdrawal, known as Brexit, have criticized May as not being tough enough in talks with the bloc, and Trump’s remarks seemed to back them up.

Asked by the visibly surprised interviewer to repeat her account of Trump’s advice, May did so: “Sue the EU,” she said, smiling, “not go into negotiation, sue them. Actually, no, no, we are going into negotiations with them.”

May did not provide details of what sort of legal case the U.S. president had in mind, and it was not immediately clear what practical effects such an intervention would have.

Last week, May published details of an agreement reached by her Cabinet on how post-Brexit trade could work, but that prompted the resignation of two senior ministers, including Boris Johnson, who quit as foreign secretary, saying that the plan would not deliver the Brexit deal that people had voted for in the 2016 referendum.

While he was still in his job, Johnson compared May’s negotiating style, unfavorably, to that of Trump. And in The Sun interview, Trump suggested that Johnson, a Conservative Party rival of May’s, would make a great prime minister.

On Sunday, May seemed to suggest that Trump’s advice had not been completely consistent. “Interestingly, what the president also said at that press conference was, ‘Don’t walk away,'” she told the BBC.

During his long business career, Trump has been famously litigious, initiating cases and defending many, too.

When he was elected president, at least 75 cases involving him or his companies were underway, according to USA Today, whose investigation identified more than 3,500 lawsuits over three decades, ranging from contract disputes and real estate battles to harassment and discrimination claims.

Sunday’s comments came at a politically sensitive moment for May amid speculation that she could face a confidence vote in her leadership within her Conservative party, which is bitterly divided over her handling of Brexit talks.

Later Sunday, Robert Courts said he was quitting as a parliamentary private secretary — an unpaid ministerial aide — at the foreign office to “express discontent” with May’s policy before votes on the policy in Parliament on Monday.

Johnson is expected to increase the pressure on the prime minister in a newspaper article Monday that is likely to expand on his reasons for resigning.

On Sunday, another hard-line supporter of Brexit, Conservative lawmaker Jacob Rees-Mogg, called on May to change policy, describing her as a “remainer” — someone who wanted Britain to remain in the European Union during Britain’s 2016 Brexit referendum — “who has remained a remainer.”

In her interview, May was also asked about being seen holding Trump’s hand while they walked together Friday, and she explained that the president takes “my hand to help in going up the steps.”

The prime minister rejected suggestions that this made her look submissive, asking her interviewer whether he could say that he had never helped someone in a similar way.