UK: Theresa May called husband to warn him she had held hands with Donald Trump

Theresa May rang her husband Philip to warn him she had held hands with another man before footage of her meeting Donald Trump aired, a BBC documentary has revealed.

Aides recall Mrs May getting “stuck” with the US President when he took her hand to walk down a slope during a visit to Washington in 2017.

A video of the encounter quickly went viral on social media, and commentators speculated that Mrs May had become close with the US leader, or that Mr Trump had a phobia of slopes and stairs.

In an upcoming BBC documentary, Mrs May’s joint chief of staff recalls the Prime Minister’s anxious call to her husband to warn him that she had held hands with another man.

“He held her hand going through the colonnades, which took us all by surprise, and as it turns out, took Theresa by surprise,” Fiona McLeod Hill said.

“She couldn’t really take her hand back, so she was stuck … And the first thing she said [afterwards] was ‘I need to call Philip just to let him know that I’ve been holding hands with another man before it hits the media’.”

Mrs May’s visit to Washington was intended to persuade Mr Trump to make a supportive statement about NATO.

The BBC documentary says Mrs May asked him whether he had spoken to Vladimir Putin, but Mr Trump said he had not.

An aide then interjected to point out that Mr Putin had called the President, but had not been put through to the Oval Office, Ms Hill recalls.

“Trump at this point looks not orange but red,” she said. “He flipped. Furious.”

“He said: ‘You’re telling me that Vladimir Putin called the White House and you’re only telling me now during this lunch?… Vladimir Putin is the only man in the world who can destroy the United States and I didn’t take his call’.”

The documentary, Trump Takes on the World, explores the former president’s time in office from the perspective of world leaders and US officials.

Francois Hollande, the former French president, recalled the advice he gave his successor, Emmanuel Macron, about Mr Trump.

“Don’t expect anything from Donald Trump. Do not think you’ll be able to change his mind,” he said.

“Don’t think that it’s possible to turn him or seduce him. Don’t imagine that he won’t follow through with his own agenda.”