Theresa May refused to give Donald Trump her personal phone number, reveals her ex-chief of staff

 Theresa May refused to give Donald Trump her personal phone number while she was prime minister, her former chief of staff has revealed.

Fiona Hill served as one of Baroness May's most senior aides in Downing Street between 2016 and 2017, which coincided with Mr Trump's first term as US President.

At the time, both Baroness May and Mr Trump hailed the 'special relationship' between Britain and America.

But, behind the scenes, Ms Hill disclosed how Baroness May snubbed the US President's request for her personal phone number.

'Actually he did ask for her number and, Theresa being Theresa, she refused to give it to him,' Ms Hill told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

The revelation came during a discussion about Mr Trump recently sharing private messages sent to him from a series of world leaders amid the ongoing row over Greenland.

This included texts from NATO bos Mark Rutte, French President Emmanuel Macron and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Store.

The 'cringey' messages included Mr Rutte piling on praise of Mr Trump's actions over Syria, Gaza and Ukraine, as well as Mr Macron inviting him to dinner in Paris.

Sam White, previously Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer's chief of staff and a former adviser to ex-chancellor Alistair Darling, outlined why world leaders were likely to feel they need a 'direct channel' to Mr Trump.

'He [Mr Trump], of course, is a one-man show. You can do a deal with his deputies but they may not even know what's on his mind,' he told BBC Radio 4.

'So I can imagine the temptation of world leaders to say 'I need to have some direct channel to him, less formal than a call where everyone is listening to it and taking notes'.

'He's someone who likes a certain amount of flattery in his communications.

'These things are not going to go down well with their domestic electorates when they are using such cringey language.'

Mr White revealed how, during the global financial crisis, then-chancellor Lord Darling was being bombarded with messages by the French foreign minister.

'I remember back in the global financial crisis in maybe 2007 or 2008, Christine Lagarde - who was the French foreign minister at the time - managed to get hold of Alistair Darling's mobile number,' he added.

'And she was texting him so much that at one point he did query whether he needed to have his number replaced.'