LONDON: Britain`s ambassador to the United States described President Donald Trump`s administration as `dysfunctional`, `clumsy` and `inept`, the Mail on Sunday newspaper reported, citing a series of confidential memos.

In memos to the British government which date from 2017 to the present, Kim Darroch said Trump `radiates insecurity` and advises officials inLondon that to deal with him effectively `you need to make your points simple, even blunt` `We don`t really believe this administration is going to become substantially more normal; less dysfunctional; less unpredictable; less faction riven; less diplomatically clumsy and inept,` Darroch wrote in one, according to the newspaper.

In others, the newspaper said he had described the administration as `uniquely dysfunctional` and that media reports about White House `knife fights` are `mostly true`.

Darroch wrote that `we could also be at the beginning of a downward spiral, rather than just a rollercoaster: something could emerge that leads todisgrace and downfall.` But he also warned British officials not to write Trump off, saying there was a `credible path` to him winning a second term in office. He said Trump may `emerge from the flames, battered but intact, like (Arnold) Schwarzenegger in the final scenes of The Terminator`. A spokesman for the Foreign Ofhce said the public would expect ambassadors `to provide ministers with an honest, unvarnished assessment of the politics in their country`.

`Their views are not necessarily the views of ministers or indeed the government. But we pay them to be candid,` he said.

`It`s important that our ambassa-dorscan offertheiradvice andforitto remain confidential. Our team in Washington have strong relations with the White House and no doubt these will withstand such mischievous behaviour.` In a memo written last month, Darroch described confusion within the administration over Trump`s decision to abort a military strike on Iran, and that the president citing the number of predicted casualties as the reason he had changed his mind `didn`t stand up`.

`It`s more likely that he was never fully on board and that he was worried about how this apparent reversal of his 2016 campaign promises would look come 2020,` Darroch wrote, adding that Trump could still trigger aconflict with Iran.

`Just one more Iranian attack somewhere in the region could trigger yet another Trump U-turn. Moreover, the loss of a single American life would probably make a critical difference.` During a state visit to Britain last month, Trump was effusive about the `special relationship` between the United States and Britain, promising a `phenomenal` trade deal after Britain leaves the European Union.

The Mail on Sunday reported that in a message sent after that visit, Darroch said that the president and his team had been `dazzled` by the visit and Britain might be `flavour of the month` but `this is still the land of America First`.-Reuters