LONDON — How should Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain respond to President Trump’s interview undercutting her position on Brexit, just as she hosts him for a visit?
According to many Twitter users on Friday, there was only one option: to channel the actor Hugh Grant, specifically his performance in the romantic comedy “Love Actually.”
In the film, Mr. Grant plays a British prime minister who hosts a lecherous American president played by Billy Bob Thornton, and who finally snaps. At a news conference, he is asked about the “special relationship” between Britain and the United States.
“I fear that this has become a bad relationship — a relationship based on the president taking exactly what he wants and casually ignoring all those things that really matter to, um, Britain,” he says in the movie.
“We may be a small country, but we’re a great one too,” he adds, to a soundtrack of soaring strings. “A friend who bullies us is no longer a friend. And since bullies only respond to strength, from now onward I should be prepared to be much stronger. And the president should be prepared for that.”
Mrs. May, who hosted Mr. Trump at a dinner on Thursday and was meeting with him at the country estate Chequers on Friday, showed no sign of planning a confrontation. But at least one prominent supporter of the opposition leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said that he would have done so:
In the film, Mr. Grant’s character ends up falling in love with a junior staff member. Mrs. May has been happily married since 1980.
Source : Nytimes
