Minister says Labor’s past attacks on Trump will not damage relationship

British cabinet ministers have insisted that past attacks on Donald Trump by senior party figures will not damage Britain’s relationship with the United States.

Several members of Sir Keir Starmer’s Labor government condemned the president-elect ahead of the party’s return to power in July.

These include Foreign Secretary David Lammy call him In 2017, when he was a backbencher, he was called a “Nazi sympathizer”.

But Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden said the depth of the UK-US relationship was “far more important” than previous comments by Labor figures.

He also noted that several of the Republican candidate’s key allies have made disparaging remarks about Trump in the past.

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

This includes the Prime Minister himself, who in 2018 (before he became Labor leader) explain Then-President Trump’s policy of separating immigrant families showed he did not understand “humanity and dignity.”

Current Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves also said condemn The policy is “barbaric”.

Current Health Minister Wes Streeting descriptive Trump is a “hateful, pathetic little person.”

Ian Murray, current Scottish Minister defendant Trump promotes “far-right, extremist propaganda,” while current Culture Minister Lisa Nandy once call him “Human Rights Nightmare”.

In 2021, McFadden himself branded The “terrible and harrowing” riot at the U.S. Capitol that year was “the pinnacle of Trump’s presidency.”

But when asked about the Labor minister’s previous criticism, the cabinet minister responded: “I know you can read into that – but the alliance between the United States is more important than all that.

“It’s so deep. It’s based on a real shared interest in defense and security. This is really serious and has been going on for a long time.

He also pointed to Trump’s decision to make former critic J.D. Vance his running mate as proof that the rhetoric can be overcome.

Vance, who will now join Trump in the White House as vice president, has publicly speculated whether the former president could become “America’s Hitler.”

McFadden added: “If everything had been done on this basis, he wouldn’t have had J.D. Vance as his running mate.”

He added that billionaire Elon Musk, a former critic of Trump who later campaigned for his re-election, had previously expressed a desire for him to “walk off into the sunset.”

McFadden added: “The truth is, if Donald Trump doesn’t talk to people who have said similar things, he’s not going to talk to a lot of people.”

Sir Keir dined with Trump and Lamy during the presidential campaign and the foreign secretary has sought to build close relationships with Vance and other senior Fianna Fáil figures.

Starmer and Trump Talk on the phone After the US election results were announced, Downing Street told reporters they “fondly recalled” the September dinner and Trump’s “connection and affinity” with the UK.

Kemi Badenock sought to capitalize on Lamy’s previous embarrassment at criticizing Trump at Prime Minister’s Questions for the first time as leader of the Conservative Party on Wednesday, urging Sir Keir to apologize.

Trump’s return to the White House has also brought a series of policy problems to the British government.

These include Ukraine, where the former president criticized the scale of U.S. support for repelling the Russian invasion and said he hoped to reach a deal to end the conflict “within 24 hours” when he took office in January.

Trump also vowed during the campaign to impose new taxes or tariffs of 10% to 20% on most foreign goods imported into the United States.

The move could hit billions of pounds worth of UK exports including Scotch whisky, pharmaceuticals and aircraft parts.

“For that reason, we don’t want a trade war,” McFadden said, but said it was worth waiting to see whether the threatened tariffs would materialize.

“What I would suggest is look at what President Trump has done, not just what he said during the campaign,” he added.

When asked about the prospect of tariffs, UK Finance Minister Rachel Reeves said that UK-US trade was good for both economies and that British ministers would “continue to defend open and free trade.”

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

Ukrainian leader Zelensky will also attend the European Political Community summit in Budapest.