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'It shows why the UK wants Brexit': US ambassador Woody Johnson slams Luxembourg PM's snub to Boris Johnson and says 'the people who held off the Nazis... don't need a lecture on how to run their country'

The US has joined condemnation of Boris Johnson's outrageous treatment by the Luxembourg PM - saying it shows why the UK wants to leav...

The US has joined condemnation of Boris Johnson's outrageous treatment by the Luxembourg PM - saying it shows why the UK wants to leave the EU.
US ambassador Woody Johnson said Xavier Bettel clearly wanted to 'trap' the premier during his visit to the country this week.
He said Britain was a powerful nation and did not need 'lectures' about Brexit.
The intervention, in a speech at the Carlton Club, comes amid mounting criticism of the behaviour of Mr Bettel.
EU diplomats have voiced alarm that the stunt has backfired by fueling Eurosceptic sentiment in the UK and derailing delicate negotiations. 
One complained that the leader of a 'bigger country' would not have indulged in such grandstanding. 
On Monday, Mr Bettel - whose country has a population of just 600,000 and an economy half the size of the NHS budget - refused to move a joint press conference with Mr Johnson indoors to prevent the British PM being 'drowned out' a small but noisy protest.
Instead he continued with the media call solo, delivering a furious anti-Brexit rant against the backdrop of a Union flag, while gesturing at the empty podium set up for Mr Johnson. 
In a hint that he might regret his actions, Mr Bettel tweeted after the clash with Mr Johnson that Luxembourg would 'remain the UK's partner and friend'. 
He posted photos of himself greeting Mr Johnson, but not pictures of the empty podium. 
A key ally of Angela Merkel warned that the 'public venting' by Mr Bettel had backfired.
Senior German MP Mr Rottgen tweeted: 'Xavier #Bettel's speech yesterday did not serve the #European cause. 
'His public venting ignored that a #deal is still in everyone's interest. 
'Even without a deal there will be a post-#Brexit life, which means that right now everyone needs to behave in a way that avoids animosity.' 
EU sources also barely contained their fury, with negotiations over a potential new Brexit deal at a crucial stage. Mr Johnson's trip to Luxembourg was designed so he could meet commission president Jean-Claude Juncker on relatively neutral ground - with the talks with Mr Bettel little more than a courtesy for hosting.  
'We organized everything to happen in Luxembourg to avoid any sense of a prime minister being humiliated by Brussels, and then this happens,' a senior EU source told the Telegraph.
Another EU source told the Times: 'A leader of a bigger country would not have used such an important occasion to better his own profile.' 
Tory MPs from both Remain and Brexit wings voiced anger at Mr Johnson's treatment this week.
Former Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith said leaders had a duty to show 'courtesy and civility', and pointed out that Luxembourg was liberated by Allied forces. 
According to the Daily Telegraph, Woody Johnson told members at the club in St James' Park in London yesterday that he could understand why the UK wanted to leave the EU if they were going to be treated badly.
He added that Boris Johnson knew he was entering a difficult situation but handled it well. 
He said: 'He knew he was walking into a trap. He knew this was a set up. Of course he knew, but he's British. He said: 'What the hell, I can do this.'
'I thought the people in Luxembourg accomplished something that maybe even Boris couldn't accomplish: to show this is not where (the British) want to be, over there, when they treat us like that – your Prime Minister.'
Mr Johnson confirmed that the United States would always support and defend the United Kingdom.
'We stand with the people of the UK and we always will,' he said.
'The people who built the greatest empire, the people who held off the Nazis, who contributed so much to the progress of mankind you can go down a long list – they don't need a lecture from anybody on how to run their country, and that includes Brussels.'

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