Labour has a lot of work to do if it hopes to have a meaningful relationship with President-elect Donald Trump, but it does not appear to be making the effort.
Not only has its foreign secretary, David Lammy, previously described the Republican leader as a “tyrant” and “a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath,” Trump’s team also last month accused Labour of meddling in the U.S. election by sending around 100 members to volunteer for Kamala Harris in battleground states.
Officially, relations are now hunky-dory, with Lammy revealing that Trump even offered him a second portion of chicken at a recent meal. But Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., did say just before what has been dubbed the greatest political comeback in history that recent mishaps on Labour’s part were “certainly not a great start” so far as maintaining the alleged ‘special relationship’ is concerned.
Enter Nigel Farage, the Trump-friendly Reform leader who has (not for the first time) offered himself up as a “bridge” between the incoming U.S. administration and the UK government. Farage has told a number of publications—and, by extension, the Labour’s top team—that “if I can be helpful in any way when it comes to bridging the divide that exists between [prime minister Keir] Starmer’s government and Trump, I will be glad to assist.”
I might not agree with almost anything that Starmer and his cabinet stand for, but I do believe in something called the national interest.
Trump would surely be all over this idea. At a packed event on the night before the election, the then-presidential-hopeful gave a shout-out to his “friend,” saying: “He’s a little bit of a rebel, but that’s good… Don’t change, Nigel.”
But Labour is not convinced. Frontbencher Pat McFadden said today that “we’ll have our own relationships,” without Farage’s involvement. McFadden also jibed that the Reform leader should focus on “working for the people of Clacton,” where he was elected MP this July, instead.
Perhaps Starmer was simply looking out for his friends at The Guardian. The newspaper has already offered counselling to staff after the “upsetting” U.S. election result. One would expect that their reporters simply couldn’t cope if they saw Trump and Farage working together in an official capacity.
