Badenoch urges PM to apologise for Lammy’s ‘neo-Nazi’ Trump comments

Kemi Badenoch has urged the PM to apologise for comments by his foreign secretary calling President Trump a “neo-Nazi sympathiser”.
The new Conservative leader used her first Prime Minister’s Questions to hit out at Starmer over his relationship with newly-elected Trump, urging him to invite the President to Parliament.
Both Starmer and Badenoch congratulated Trump on his election victory, before the Conservative leader asked the PM and Foreign Secretary David Lammy to apologise for comments Lammy made in 2018.
When he was a backbench MP, Lammy wrote in a magazine: “Trump is not only a woman-hating Neo-Nazi sympathising sociopath, he is also a profound threat to the international order”.
A Labour MP shouted “resign” to Badenoch in response to her questioning.
Starmer replied: “There will be many issues on which the leader of the Opposition and I disagree, but there will be issues that do unite this House on national security and Ukraine.”
He added: “The Foreign Secretary and I did meet President-elect Trump just a few weeks ago for dinner for about a couple of hours, and we discussed a number of issues of global significance. It was a very constructive exercise.”
Despite his previous criticisms of Trump, since becoming foreign secretary Lammy has shifted his tone – meeting with Vice President-elect JD Vance several times, and congratulating Trump on Wednesday morning.
Badenoch said the PM should invite Trump to address Parliament on his next visit to the UK, saying Starmer should show the new president the Government are “more than student politicians”.
The relationship between Trump and the new Labour government is already off to a rocky start, after the President filed a legal complaint against the UK Labour Party during the campaign, accusing them of election interference.
The complaint was filed with the US election watchdog over a trip organised by Labour staff, for around 100 volunteers to help Democrats in key states. Trump called the Labour Party a “far-left party” engaging in “illegal foreign campaign contributions.”
Badenoch told the Commons: “The prime minister did not distance himself from the remarks made by the foreign secretary, and I’m very sure that President Trump will soon be calling to thank him for sending all of those North London Labour activists to campaign for his opponent.”
Starmer replied: “We live in probably more volatile world than we’ve lived in for many decades.
“It is absolutely crucial that we have a strong relationship, that strong special relationship forged in difficult circumstances, between the US and the UK.
“We will continue to work as we have done in the four months in Government.”
The new Conservative leader also urged Starmer to continue negotiations on a free trade agreement with the US, and criticised his Budget last week as “copy and paste Bidenomics.”
Donald Trump won the US Presidential election, and will become the 47th President of the United States after a historic victory against rival Kamala Harris.
In a momentous comeback after losing to Joe Biden four years ago, Trump will now serve a second term.
His re-election defied two assassination attempts, two presidential impeachments, his criminal conviction and many other criminal charges. It also follows his attempt to overturn the 2020 election to stay in office.
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