Labour would work with Donald Trump if he was re-elected US President and Keir Starmer became Prime Minister, the Shadow Foreign Secretary insisted tonight.
David Lammy was previously a strident critic of the Republican billionaire, declaring he “can't wait to see the back” of him when he was in the White House.
But if the ousted American Premier returns to power and Labour wins the next general election, Mr Trump and Mr Starmer would be the custodians of the “special relationship” between the US and UK.
Speaking at the Trade Unlocked conference in Birmingham, Mr Lammy said: “We have a special relationship with the United States … underpinned by the work of our intelligence, our security and our armed forces.
“For that reason, whoever is in the White House and whoever is in No10, the UK and US will continue to work very closely together.”
The tone Mr Lammy struck as he bids to become Britain’s top diplomat after the next general election was in stark contrast to three years earlier when Mr Trump was preparing for a bitter electoral showdown with Democratic rival Joe Biden.
Speaking on his LBC Radio show in the run-up to the White House election in November 2020, which Mr Trump lost to Mr Biden, Mr Lammy told listeners: "We need Donald Trump to go.”
He branded the then President “so salacious, so obscene, who uses racism so quickly, who stokes fires – whether it's in relation to Black Lives Matter, whether it's how he deals with serious countries like China and North Korea”.
He added: “I can't wait to see the back of Donald Trump and I hope the good people of America have the good sense to turf him out of office very, very shortly indeed."
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