Labour’s past attacks on Trump won’t harm relations, says minister

A UK cabinet minister has insisted past attacks on Donald Trump by senior figures in his party will not harm the country’s relationship with the United States.

Several members of Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government denounced the president-elect before the party was returned to power in July.

These include Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who called him a “Nazi sympathiser” in 2017 when he was a backbench MP.

But Cabinet Office Minister Pat McFadden said the depth of the UK-US relationship was “much more important” than previous remarks by Labour figures.

And he pointed out that several of the Republican candidate’s key allies have also made disparaging comments about Trump in the past.

Trump’s re-election as president has led to renewed scrutiny of previous comments made by UK government ministers when they were opposition MPs.

These include the prime minister himself, who in 2018 – before he became Labour leader – said then-president Trump’s policy of separating migrant families in detention showed he did not understand “humanity and dignity”.

Rachel Reeves, now chancellor, also condemned the policy as “barbaric”.

Wes Streeting, now health secretary, described Trump as an “odious, sad, little man”.

Ian Murray, now Scottish Secretary previously accused Trump of promoting “far-right, extremist propaganda”, and Lisa Nandy, now culture secretary, once called him a “human rights nightmare”.

In 2021, McFadden himself branded the “terrible and distressing” riots in the US Capitol building that year the “culmination of the Trump presidency”.

But questioned about Labour ministers’ previous criticism, the cabinet minister replied: “I know you can read these things out – but the alliance between the United States is much more important than all that.

“It is so deep. It Is based on real common interests in defence and security. It’s really serious, it’s really longstanding.”

He also pointed to Trump’s decision to make former critic JD Vance his running mate as evidence the remarks could be overcome.

Vance, who is now set to enter the White House alongside Trump as his vice-president, had once publicly speculated whether the former president would turn out to be “America’s Hitler”.

McFadden added: “If it all worked on that basis, he wouldn’t have had JD Vance as his running mate”.

He also added that billionaire Elon Musk, a previous Trump critic who then went on to campaign for his re-election, had previously expressed a desire for him to “walk off into the sunset”.

“The truth is, if Donald Trump didn’t speak to people who’d said things like that, there would be a lot of people he wouldn’t be speaking to,” McFadden added.

Sir Keir met Trump and Lammy for dinner during the presidential campaign and the foreign secretary has sought to cultivate close ties to Vance and other senior Republicans.

Starmer and Trump spoke on the phone after the US election result, with Downing Street telling reporters they “fondly recalled” their dinner in September, as well as Trump’s “connections and affinity” to the UK.

Kemi Badenoch sought to capitalise on the awkwardness of Lammy’s previous criticism of Trump at her first appearance as Conservative leader at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, urging Sir Keir to apologise.

Trump’s return to the White House has also posed a number of policy headaches for the UK government.

These include Ukraine, where the former president has criticised the scale of US support for its efforts to repel Russia’s invasion and suggested he wants to see a deal to end the conflict “within 24 hours” when he takes office in January.

Trump also vowed during the election campaign to impose new taxes, or tariffs, of 10%-20% on most foreign goods imported into the US.

Such a move could hit billions of pounds’ worth in British exports, including Scotch whisky, pharmaceutical products, and airplane parts.

McFadden said “we don’t want a trade war for that reason” – but suggested it would be worth waiting to see if the threatened tariffs come to pass.

“The thing I would advise is, look at what President Trump does, and not just what is said in the heat of the campaign, ” he added.

Asked about the prospect of tariffs, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said UK-US trade benefitted both economies, and British ministers would “continue to make the case for open and free trade”.

Sir Keir is attending a meeting of European leaders in Hungary later, where the impact of Trump’s re-election for Ukraine and trade ties is expected to dominate.

The European Political Community summit, taking place in Budapest, will also be attended by Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky.