'Don't be silly' over Falklands and Irish unity, top Tory tells Trump

'Don't be silly' over Falklands and Irish unity, top Tory tells Trump Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat said the US president was trying to appeal to domestic voters by commenting on the British overseas territory in the Atlantic Ocean and remarking that he would "love" to see a united Ireland. Trump has described America's stance on the Falklands as "one of many" under review and suggested he might not support the UK in any future confrontation with Argentina. During a visit to Ireland last week, the US president stated that Irish reunification was "going to happen eventually" and would be a "great thing". Britain and Argentina continue to contest sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, four decades after the armed conflict there that the UK won. Earlier this month, Argentina's president heightened tensions with the UK over the Falkland Islands, asserting in a statement that "winds of change" favoured his country's claim to the territory and warning that he would impose economic sanctions on firms exploiting oil nearby. In reply, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband declared the UK's position on the islands was "unwavering", adding that they would remain British because "that is the overwhelming presumption of the Islanders". Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch pushed back forcefully on the issue, insisting "the Falkland Islands are British" and stressing that Britain's continued engagement with them "is of captious importance". Tugendhat, the Tory MP for Tonbridge in Kent whom Badenoch appointed her shadow overseas chief in a reshuffle earlier this month, suggested Trump does not truly mean his remarks. "What he's doing is he's bumping his gums on some issues that he thinks are supportive to assorted electoral issues for himself at home," he told Nick Robinson on Political Thinking. "He's got elections coming up successful November, helium knows he's got votes to win." "Is it adjuvant to us? No. But this is his politics, not ours. So sometimes we person to accidental thing and sometimes we person to go, 'come on mate, don't be silly'."