Meet the 'Brex Pistols', the cadre linking Donald Trump with the Brexit

According to one insider, that was the seed that this week has suddenly sprouted into anarchy in UK diplomacy, as a group who dubbed themselves the 'Brex(it) Pistols' have done to trans-Atlantic relations what they have just finished doing to the EU.

The would-be mogul was Steve Bannon, an American former Goldman Sachs banker who made a fortune by taking a financial stake in Seinfeld.

In 2014 he was executive chair of the fledgling, widely scorned (but increasingly popular) Breitbart alt-right fringe news website, which had just set up a London office.

He is now, of course, president-elect Donald Trump's chief strategist, having guided his campaign since mid-August in a "let Trump be Trump" hardball run to the finish line.

Insiders say it is thanks to Bannon that Nigel Farage became the first foreign politician to meet Mr Trump after his election win, in a major embarrassment to British prime minister Theresa May and foreign secretary Boris Johnson.

Then Anglo-American relations were blown into uncharted waters on Tuesday, when Mr Trump tweeted his desire to see Mr Farage as the next British ambassador to the US.

Back in 2014 Bannon had discovered a kindred spirit in Farage, says Andre Walker, a former Conservative staffer who joined Breitbart when it opened its London office in early 2014, and is familiar with most of the players. He is now a lobby reporter for the New York Observer – owned by Mr Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.

The matchmaker was the Breitbart's London editor-in-chief Raheem Kassam, an ambitious 27 year-old Londoner, the atheist son of Tanzanian Muslim immigrants.

According to Walker, Kassam suggested to Bannon that he meet Farage – and Bannon was keen despite the long travel time.

"Bannon said if he's in Cambridge, if he can give me 10-15 minutes I'm happy to do it," Walker said. "So he's flown over to the UK (and) jumped into a cab to Cambridge (a 4-5 hour round trip)."

Walker recalled that Farage was in Cambridge for a speech at the Cambridge Union.

Fairfax Media was unable to find a record of any such speech in 2014, and asked if Walker was referring to a speech in May 2014 in St Ives, close to Cambridge. Walker said he was.

"That was the start of the relationship… from my discussions with Bannon he very much sees the Tea Party and UKIP as the same thing. He described to me that the key difference was that the Tea Party was using primaries to put their candidates in power as Republicans, whereas obviously UKIP can't do that.

"They firmly believe that Brexit and the election of Trump are indivisible movements of people who don't like the way establishment Conservatives have failed them."

Walker said Bannon and Farage are temperamentally alike, too, they (and Trump) "all believe in just putting it out there".

"You never have to worry that Steve Bannon's going to backstab you because he will simply tell you to his face what he thinks," he said.

Kassam confirmed to Fairfax that "I am the link" between Bannon and Farage, but declined an interview because "I don't want to pump myself up".

Months after the Cambridge meeting Kassam would jump ship to UKIP to become a senior staffer for Farage in the run-up to the 2015 general election. At the time, Bannon wrote he was a "huge piece of manpower… the entire company will miss his intelligence and drive".

Kassam returned to Breitbart after the UK election, reportedly on a mission to increase UKIP coverage.

In mid-August this year, Bannon took over the running of Trump's campaign.

Days later Trump cryptically tweeted "They will soon be calling me Mr Brexit!".

And a week later Farage addressed a Trump rally in Jackson Mississippi, to the bemusement of many, telling them "I come from the United Kingdom with a message of hope… if the ordinary decent people are prepared to stand up and fight for what they believe in, we can overcome… we made June 23 our Independence Day when we smashed the establishment."

Farage's speech predicted what is now orthodoxy: that Trump would win for the same reasons and against the same headwinds as Brexit.

Then three days after Trump's win Farage became probably the first foreign politician, certainly the first British politician, to meet the president-elect.

He tweeted afterwards a photo of himself standing with Trump in front of a Trump Tower gold door.

He didn't go in alone. Kassam later Tweeted another gold door photo. This featured Trump (giving the thumbs up) alongside Farage, Kassam, UKIP's multi-millionaire backer Arron Banks and Leave campaign comms chief Andrew Wigmore.

Kassam then tweeted a photo from outside Trump Tower of himself, Farage, Banks and Wigmore, with the comment 'The Brex Pistols".

Walker believes Bannon orchestrated the meeting, with Trump's approval, to send a message.

"What it says is 'here are the people I can work with'."

Then on Tuesday came the tweet.

The response from Whitehall and Number Ten to the idea of putting Farage, an unpredictable and uncontrollable political opponent, into a key ambassadorial role was a stiff "the job's taken".

Foreign secretary Boris Johnson told parliament "we have a first rate ambassador in Washington doing a very good job … and there is no vacancy for that position."

But, Walker said, "you've got to be realistic. There will now be a role for Farage in one shape or form."

If it's not as Britain's official ambassador, it will be as de facto chief negotiator in post-Brexit trade talks with the US.

"One thing that is guaranteed, whether May likes it or not Farage is going to end up advising on the US-UK trade deal, simply because Trump will call on him and Bannon will call on him to discuss it. That is just a fait accompli and (the British government) might as well bring it within the tent.

"In a post-Brexit world the most important thing is bilateral trade deals. Trump is keen on them. And he's a kindred spirit with Farage in terms of what the trade deal would look like.

"The whole Breitbart thing and the whole Trump narrative is about the Anglosphere, about free trade agreements with all the English speaking nations of the world. That's the game."