WASHINGTON (BLOOMBERG) – Just like the Russian President, Britain’s Boris Johnson also played Donald Trump “like a fiddle,” according to John Bolton, who suggested the British prime minister can use that ability to his advantage.

The US president’s former national security adviser told Channel 4 News he was not in his post long enough to witness specific incidents, but noted there had been a sea-change in the US-UK relationship after Johnson replaced Theresa May as premier last July.

Trump and May had a famously awkward relationship.

“The reason this is positive for Britain is that Trump can’t distinguish between his personal relationships with a counterpart leader, and the actual state of the national relationships between two countries,” Bolton said in an interview broadcast on Thursday (June 25).

Bolton, who left Trump’s administration in September, then echoed the phrase he has already used to describe the relationship between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump.

“I’ve known Boris before he was prime minister,” Bolton said. “I think he’s got a good sense of humour, and I had the sense that behind those twinkling eyes he was playing Trump like a fiddle, too.”

Trump has described allegations in Bolton’s new book, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir as “lies”, while his administration tried – and failed – to prevent its publication.

Johnson’s office had no immediate comment.

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