A top US analyst has sounded the alarm today, stating that Donald Trump is likely to label Sir Keir Starmer a “lightweight woke lefty” and harbour distrust towards him. The incoming President is expected to view the Prime Minister as inexperienced in the art of negotiation, says Nile Gardiner, director of The Heritage Foundation’s Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom.
Labour activists’ support for Kamala Harris in the US election may have already soured relations between the 78-year-old Trump and 62-year-old Starmer. Gardiner suggests that in light of David Lammy branding the President-elect a “serial liar” and “wannabe despot” Starmer faces pressure to dismiss his foreign secretary.
During Prime Minister’s Questions today, Starmer carefully avoided criticism, instead highlighting his recent “very constructive” discussions with Trump on global matters. Despite this, Gardiner foresees “significant tensions ahead” in UK-US relations underpinning a trust deficit from Trump towards Starmer.
As he told Mail Online, potential policy conflicts are emerging, particularly over the Middle East; Labour’s halt on certain arms sales to Israel contrasts sharply with Trump’s staunch support, and differences also loom over the handling of Israeli actions against Iran, where Labour treads more cautiously.
“Mr Trump will view Starmer as lightweight and as a novice on the international stage. He will view Starmer as a woke lefty and Trump doesn’t like woke lefties,” Mr Gardiner remarked. Despite Labour activists jetting off to the US to support Kamala Harris, Trump emerged victorious in the US election, reports the Mirror.
Over 100 campaigners demonstrated their backing for the now Vice President, prompting the Trump team to lodge a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). The filed complaint pointed to a LinkedIn update, now deleted, by Sofia Patel, the Labour Party’s head of operations, claiming that 100 of its staff were set to work in key states like North Carolina and Nevada.
A Telegraph article mentioned in the six-page complaint underlined that the Labour staffers would need to be on annual leave and finance their trips themselves.