Less than 48 hours after undermining the NATO summit, Donald Trump comes to the UK and attacks the Conservative Government which is hosting him.

Trump seized the opportunity to continue his attempt to dismantle the European Union, which he frames as “ripping off” the US, by knocking back Prime Minister Theresa May’s effort to get a viable Brexit deal with the EU.

Last Friday, amid fraught discussions with Brussels and her riven Cabinet, May pushed through a compromise proposal that would keep UK goods in a close relationship with Europe, but take UK services — 80% of the economy — outside. In addition to providing a limited cushion against the economic shock of Brexit, the Prime Minister’s “Chequers plan” also hopes to resolve the issue of the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.

But within 72 hours, the “hard Brexit” members of her Cabinet struck back with resignations. First, Brexit Secretary David Davis went and then Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who hopes to replace May, departed. By Monday night, the Prime Minister was having to stave off a possible rebellion by Conservative MPs.

Even before landing in the UK, Trump fired a warning shot as he departed the NATO summit in Brussels. He repeated the mantra of Conservative hardliners — and of Nigel Farage, former leader of the UK Independence Party and an advisor to the Trump camp — that “Brexit is Brexit”:

The people voted to break it up so I would imagine that’s what they’ll do, but maybe they’re taking a different route — I don’t know if that is what they voted for.

As May prepared to host Trump at a dinner in Oxfordshire, the Prime Minister’s staff at 10 Downing Street let media outlets know that they were displeased. But there was far more to come.

Trump had invited the political editor of The Sun tabloid, Tom Newton-Dunn, aboard Air Force One as it flew from Brussels to Stansted Airport, northeast of London. The subsequent interview was a series of grenades thrown at May’s Brexit barricades.

*If the UK pursues the Chequers plan, then there can be no US-UK trade deal post-Brexit.

Trump is technically right. The UK’s agreement to common standards and regulations on goods with the EU precludes a separate arrangement with Washington which is not agreed by the EU’s other 27 members. However, his message was more of a political warning.

*He would have handled negotiations with the EU much differently, and much more effectively than May.

Set up by Newton-Dunn, Trump explained that he would have walked away from the talks if he didn’t get a “good deal”, sending a message to the UK Prime Minister that she should have pursued a No Deal option rather than putting forth the Chequers plan.

*Johnson would be an excellent Prime Minister.

With the endorsement of the long-time aspirant for the Prime Minister’s post, Trump has given his endorsement if May is forced into a leadership battle, possibly as soon as this autumn with the March 2019 deadine for a Brexit settlement — or no settlement — approaching.

Trump also continued his battle with the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, repeating the false claims that the capital is overrun by terrorism and knife crime.