LONDON – U.S. President Donald Trump said the leader of Britain's left-wing opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, would be "so bad" for Britain if he wins December's general election, prompting Corbyn to say Trump was interfering in the contest.
In an interview with Britain's LBC radio, conducted by the head of the Brexit Party on Thursday, Nigel Farage, Trump also called Prime Minister Boris Johnson a fantastic man who was right for the times.
"Corbyn would be so bad for your country. He'd be so bad, he'd take you in such a bad way. He'd take you into such bad places," Trump said.
His remarks came on the day Corbyn opened Labour's campaign for the Dec. 12 election with an attack on what he called a corrupt elite which profited by exploiting workers, lying to the public and polluting the environment.
Corbyn accused Trump of interfering to help Johnson.
"Trump is trying to interfere in UK election to get his friend Boris Johnson elected," he said in a Tweet.
Johnson has said the election is a chance to break the impasse in parliament over Brexit, more than three years after voters decided to leave the European Union.
In the radio interview, Trump praised Johnson for trying to push ahead with Brexit.
"Yes he has (spoken to me) and he also knows how difficult it is - he's in a very difficult position. And I think he's willing to do what no one else would do," he said.
"He's a fantastic man and I think he's the exact right guy for the times. And I know that you (Farage) and him will end up doing something that could be terrific. If you and he get together it's, you know, an unstoppable force."
Trump also said Britain could do four to five times more trade with the United States, but the terms of the relationship between London and Brussels after Brexit might mean Washington is not be able to do a bilateral trade deal with Britain.
"We want to do trade with UK, and they want to do trade with us," he said. "And to be honest with you, this deal, under certain aspects of the deal - you can't do it, you can't do it, you can't trade. We can't make a trade deal with the UK."Under certain ways we would be precluded which would be ridiculous."