BRITAIN must unite with Donald Trump in support of freedom and capitalism, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said today.
Congratulating Mr Trump on his imminent return to the US presidency, Sir Keir said: “As the closest of allies, we stand shoulder to shoulder in defence of our shared values of freedom, democracy and enterprise.”
The generous interpretation of Mr Trump’s outlook appeared to be an attempt by the government to efface the record of unflattering comments made about the president-elect by Labour figures, including Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
Sir Keir was taunted by new Tory leader Kemi Badenoch in the Commons over the fact that the Republican Party is suing the Labour Party over the dispatch of hundreds of activists to the US to assist Kamala Harris’s doomed campaign.
Sir Keir submitted himself to a meal with Mr Trump during a recent visit to New York, which by most accounts went rather well, details including the president-elect personally offering Mr Lammy second helpings.
In the Commons, Sir Keir was mainly concerned to emphasise the importance of keeping the Ukraine-Russia war on the boil, a conflict Mr Trump has claimed he will swiftly bring to an end.
Campaign group Stand Up to Racism called an emergency “no to Trump” protest at the US embassy in London this evening.
Co-convener Weyman Bennett said: “Trump is a racist who gives every fascist and far-right activist a boost.
“We are coming out to oppose him and his racism, sexism, bigotry and Islamophobia again.”
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament was among the groups backing the protest.
New general secretary Sophie Bolt said that “the world will be far more dangerous with Trump’s thumb on the nuclear button.”
“The risks of nuclear flashpoints are already high — over Ukraine, across the Middle East and in the Asia-Pacific,” she said.
“British people reject Trump’s dangerous escalation and so must our government.”
National Education Union general secretary Daniel Kebede said the movement must regard the US result as a warning.
“Trump’s victory should send a very clear message to the Labour government — make a material improvement to the lives of working people or else,” he said on social media.
Independent left MP Jeremy Corbyn said: “The election of Donald Trump is a dark day for reproductive healthcare, the rights of refugees and the future of our planet.
“As we speak, people are being slaughtered in Gaza and Lebanon.
“Our demands on our governments have not changed: stop enabling genocide and end all arms sales to Israel.”
Stop the War convenor Lindsey German said: “A Harris victory would not have stopped Israel’s genocide in Gaza or drive to war across the Middle East, but Trump’s racism, Islamophobia and bigotry, and his close relationship with Netanyahu could well enable Israel to pursue its desire for full control of Gaza and the West Bank.
“We face an extremely dangerous situation worldwide, with a growing arms race. We in the anti-war movement must redouble our efforts to end the genocide and wars in the Middle East. We also need peace in Ukraine, for the west to stop arming Ukraine, and for an end to the escalation of militarism and conflict aimed at China in the Pacific.”
And Communist Party general secretary Robert Griffiths said: “In place of grovelling congratulations like those from Prime Minister Starmer, the so-called ‘centre-left’ should learn the lesson from recent US and EU election results: capitulating to big business market forces, racism, militarism and right-wing nationalism will end in their own defeat, sooner or later.”
