Donald Trump will maintain the US-UK special relationship as long as it isn’t “infected by unbound wokeness” while Sir Keir Starmer and David Lammy are an “utter disaster”, an ex-senior adviser to the former US president has said.
The damning comments from Dr Seb Gorka, who is still closely connected to Trump’s camp, came as UK Prime Minister Sir Keir met US President Joe Biden in Washington DC on Friday (September 13).
That second face to face between the two leaders comes amid mounting fears of escalation in the Ukraine–Russia war, with talk of Kyiv’s western allies giving Ukraine the go ahead to aim long range weapons at Russian territory.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy met in Kyiv earlier this week where Ukrainian officials renewed their pleas to use Western-provided long-range missiles against targets deeper inside Russia.
In an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, Dr Gorka was asked for his impression of the Labour Government and Trump’s ability to work with Sir Keir and Mr Lammy should he win November’s vote.
He said: “An utter disaster as any normal person expected. Starmer’s background as a socialist activist clearly colours his globalist views today.
“But President Trump will be a partner for our cousins across the pond because he loves the UK and will support our Special Relationship as long as it’s not infected by unbounded wokeness.”
Unlike Mr Biden, Mr Trump was an enthusiastic supporter of Brexit and while in the White House praised former prime minister Boris Johnson, hailing him as “Britain Trump”.
The Republican party’s candidate for the upcoming US general election is also a supporter of Nigel Farage and has Scottish roots.
When Mr Farage won his Clacton seat at the UK general election in July, Trump posted his congratulations on his social media platform Truth Social but said nothing of Sir Keir’s Labour victory.
Nevertheless, Sir Keir has made attempts to bridge the political divide, not least by condemning the attempted assassination attempt on Trump. Both the British prime minster and his top diplomat have been keen to maintain UK-US ties under the Special Relationship.
But that may be a challenge given comments made by Mr Lammy during his years in opposition. In 2018, Mr Lammy called the former US president a “woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathizing sociopath”. He has also accused Trump of being a fascist and promoting racism.
Asked for his view on how Trump feels about Mr Lammy, Dr Gorka said: “I will not speak on his behalf. However, if your daughter had converted to Judaism and you were the only president to have (the) courage to move our embassy to Jerusalem and recognize it as the capital of Israel, how would you react to being called a ‘Nazi’ – neo or otherwise?”
His comment reflects Trump’s controversial decision to formally recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the United States’ moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, converted to Judaism before marrying Jared Kushner in 2009.
Since taking office, Mr Lammy has been keen to stress that the UK government will work with whoever holds the keys to the White House. Britain’s top diplomat has also held meetings with Trump campaign advisers and described Trump’s running mate JD Vance as his “friend”.