Trump is ‘would be dictator’ and Theresa May ‘won’t last’: Soros

Davos, Jan 20 (IANS) Donald Trump is a "would-be dictator" who will fail and Theresa May will not last because of the Brexit "divorce", billionaire business magnate George Soros has told the Davos World Economic Forum, the media reported.

The Hungarian-American investor, on the eve of Trump's inauguration, delivered a cutting verdict on the incoming US President, reported the Independent on Friday.

The 86-year-old also called Trump an "imposter and con-man" who was "gearing up for a trade war" which would have "a very far-reaching consequences in Europe and in other parts of the world".

"I personally am convinced that (Trump) is going to fail," Soros told an audience of business leaders and journalists in Davos, Switzerland. "Not because of people like me who would like him to fail, but because the ideas that guide him are inherently self-contradictory," he said.

Soros, who donated $1 million (810,000 pounds) in June 2015 to Priorities USA Action which supported Hillary Clinton's campaign, also said Trump "didn't expect to win, he was surprised".

A former travel salesman, Soros also said that he expected financial markets to "not do very well" because of the uncertainty surrounding the Trump administration, according to the report.

Moving on to the Britain's attempts to leave the European Union, Soros raised the prospect of the country re-joining the Union within just three days of leaving it.

"In my opinion it is unlikely that Prime Minister May is actually going to remain in power. Already she has a very divided Cabinet, a very small majority in Parliament. And I think she will not last," said Soros, who was nicknamed The Man Who Broke the Bank of England because of his $10 billion (8.1 billion pounds) short sale of sterling in 1992.

"At the moment the people in Britain are in denial," the report quoted him as saying.

"The current economic situation is not as bad as was predicted and they live in hope. But as the currency depreciates, and inflation will be the driving force, this will lead to declining living standards."

Soros further said that "the divorce is going to take a very long time. It's much harder to divorce than to get married, so I think the desire for rapprochement will develop."

"... In theory or maybe even in practice you could have a situation in 2019 or 2020 when Britain will leave the EU. But they could leave on a Friday and join over the weekend and have the new arrangement in place on Monday morning."

Theresa May has already hailed Britain as a foreign investment hub at Davos.