Sir Peter Westmacott in Washington delivers withering rebuttal to 'somebody called Donald Trump'

Sir Peter Westmacott, British ambassador to the US, breaks with diplomatic norms to take Republican candidate to task over claim that Muslims have made some parts of London into no-go areas

London's man in Washington has broken with diplomatic convention to attack Donald Trump's anti-Islamic rhetoric after the Republican presidential candidate claimed that the UK had a "massive problem" with Muslims. 

Sir Peter Westmacott, who is nearing the end of his four-year tour as Britain's ambassador to the US, did not wait to be asked about Mr Trump's latest remarks before going on the offensive in a meeting with journalists

“There is somebody called Donald Trump running in your presidential campaign, and he again spoke this morning about the UK, saying that we were busy disguising a massive Muslim problem," the ambassador said. “That’s not the way we see it. We are very proud of our Muslim community in the United Kingdom.” 

Sir Peter - who was Britain's ambassador to Turkey when al-Qaeda launched a suicide attack on the UK consulate in Istanbul that killed 15 people in 2003 - told the gathering that jihadist groups did not truly reflect Islam and warned that Mr Trump's rhetoric made it harder to fight terrorism. 

Sir peter Westmacott's solution he said, was "to work with our Muslim communities, not to push them away with divisive or threatening language”.
Sir Peter's outspoken comments marked a departure from the time-honoured practice of foreign envoys in Washington of not commenting publicly on American domestic politics, particularly on elections. 

They represented a riposte to Mr Trump's defiant stance in the face of widespread criticism in Britain of his call for a ban on Muslims entering the US.