Trump’s lawyers wrote to the Federal Election Commission last month requesting a probe into foreign interference and alleging illegal foreign contributions by Labour to the Harris campaign…reports Asian Lite News
The government is scrambling to smooth over tensions in the UK-US special relationship after 100 Labour party staff flew to the US to campaign for Kamala Harris in the presidential election and old scathing comments surfaced from Labour frontbenchers heavily criticising the US president-elect.
Donald Trump’s lawyers wrote to the Federal Election Commission last month requesting an investigation into foreign interference and alleging illegal foreign contributions by Labour to the Harris campaign.
Starmer wrote on ‘X’ in 2019: “An endorsement from Donald Trump tells you everything you need to know about Boris Johnson’s politics and why he isn’t fit to be prime minister.”
In a 2018 Time article UK foreign secretary David Lammy described Trump as a “woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath”, a “tyrant” and a “profound threat to the international order”.
In a 2019 tweet Lammy wrote: “Deluded, dishonest, xenophobic, narcissistic, Donald Trump is no friend of Britain. He is not fit to hold public office” and “Donald Trump lies more times a day than the average person goes to the bathroom.”
Starmer tweeted to congratulate Trump on the day he won the election, as did Lammy, and Starmer rushed to phone Trump on Wednesday too. Insiders told Bloomberg that Trump has repeatedly told associates he thinks the new PM is “very left-wing” and Starmer’s policies have been heavily criticised on ‘X’ by Elon Musk in recent months.
Sean Spicer, former White House press secretary, told ITV that Trump does not forget Lammy’s type of comments, but that he had seen the Labour govt try and “walk back those remarks” and with Trump there is “always negotiation”.
Four years ago deputy PM Angela Rayner had described Trump as a “buffoon” who had “no place in the White House”. On Thursday she was quick to call up vice president-elect J D Vance, who during the election campaign had said: “Under Labour the UK could be the first truly Islamist country that will get a nuclear weapon.”
Rayner tweeted after the call it was good to speak to Vance. “We spoke about our plans for the future and how, working together, we will build on the special relationship between our great countries.” Questioned about his tirade of abuse at Trump on BBC Newscast, Lammy dismissed the tweets as “old news”.
“In that period lots of things were said about Trump on Twitter. It was a daily occurrence. Now I am foreign secretary, I have had a meal with Donald Trump.” He said it never came up in their conversation, “not even vaguely”, and that he found him to be a “very gracious, generous host”.
“What you say as a backbencher and what you do wearing the real duty of public office are two different things…” Lammy said.
Meanwhile, Trump is considering offering the UK a special deal that would exempt British exports from billions of pounds of new tariffs.
The US president has pledged to impose huge levies on all foreign imports after he takes office next year, under an “America First” trade policy that has caused panic in European capitals.
But sources close to Trump said the UK could be exempt from the tariffs, under the terms of a deal that Britain hopes to negotiate in the coming months.
The president-elect’s proposed tariffs include a levy of between ten and 20 per cent on all foreign imports, and a 60 per cent duty on goods and services from China.
After Trump’s victory in Tuesday’s election, foreign governments including the UK, are preparing for the return of protectionist trade policy by the world’s largest economy.
British ministers and diplomats are planning to play up the UK’s “special relationship” with America to Trump in a bid to remove Britain from the plans.
Trump, a supporter of Brexit, was fiercely critical of Theresa May’s proposed deal to leave the EU but often lavished praise on Boris Johnson as he forged a different Brexit path when he became prime minister.
A UK government source said that Britain will prioritise exports to the US from its service industry, valued at £130 billion last year, in any talks.
Experts estimate the tariffs would raise between $2 trillion and $3.3 trillion for the US Treasury, but would have a major impact on growth in both America and around the world. The UK economy could shrink by up to 0.7 per cent if the tariffs were imposed in full.
Any deal on tariff exemptions would likely involve concessions by the UK on other policy issues, which could include Lammy’s plan to align Britain more closely with the EU.
Trump is also likely to reject requests to remove tariffs on goods that are critical to US domestic manufacturing, including cars, a UK government source said.
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