David Lammy refuses to apologise for calling Trump a 'neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath'
The new Labour government would have to work with Donald Trump him on vital matters such as international security if he becomes US President in November.
David Lammy has refused to say whether he was wrong about Donald Trump after having previously called the former US president a “neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath”.
The Foreign Secretary also previously referred to the former US President as “a tyrant in a toupee”.
Mr Lammy said that Mr Trump had the “thickest of skins” after he was challenged over comments he made as a backbench MP in 2018 and whether it could affect UK-US relations if the Republican nominee wins the presidential election.
Asked if he would say whether he had been wrong about Mr Trump, the Foreign Secretary said: “Donald Trump is the biggest, in many ways, of political characters we have at this point on the planet.
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“Lots of people have had things to say, but in our common interests, with security as a central challenge in the global community, war in the Middle East, war in Europe, with tremendous challenges for costs of living across the globe.
“There is a lot of common cause, that the UK can strike with the US, and we will do that with whomever is in the White House.”
Mr Lammy said many politicians had “things to say” about Mr Trump in the past as he was grilled about his previous criticism of the US’ Republican nominee for President.
Mr Trump survived an assassination attempt at a political campaign rally at the weekend.
When asked if he stood by his comments, the Labour frontbencher said: “You are going to struggle to find any politician who didn’t have things to say about Donald Trump back in the day.
“Today I am standing here as the UK Foreign Secretary, you know that I have been to Washington DC eight times since becoming shadow foreign secretary and now Foreign Secretary.
“I meet with Republicans and Democrats, many close to Trump and we will work with whomever the United States choose to put in the White House and become their next president.”
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He also dismissed comments by Mr Trump's running mate for US vice president that the UK under Labour might be the first "truly Islamist" country with nuclear weapons.
JD Vance, the Ohio senator, made the comments while at the National Conservatism conference in Washington DC last week.
Mr Lammy said: “I don’t recognise those comments. We got votes in the election from all corners of the country and all sorts of people.
“But what I would say about JD Vance is that we were able to find common ground. We’re both from poor backgrounds, we’ve both suffered from addiction issues from our family which we’ve written about, both of us Christians, and now I’ve met him on a few occasions and we have been able to find common ground and get on.”
