Keir Starmer is embroiled in another row over Donald Trump after the Labour mayor of London warned of a “resurgent fascism” on the eve of his inauguration.
Allies of the prime minister slapped down Sadiq Khan, distancing the government from his comments, while the Tories condemned them as “unacceptable”. The latest spat comes at a difficult time for the UK-US relationship.
In what would be an extremely rare move, Mr Trump is considering rejecting Sir Keir’s nominee for UK ambassador to the US, Lord Mandelson.
The Trump team is also still angry Labour staffers travelled to the US to campaign for their rivals, the Democrats, in the presidential race.
Sir Sadiq warned of a “resurgent fascism” and “deeply worrying times, especially if you’re a member of a minority community”, in The Observer.
“By exploiting economic concerns and a growing distrust of political and media institutions, these reactionary populists have been able to attract new supporters,” he wrote.
“In Germany, the AfD is on course for a breakthrough in next month’s federal elections. In France, the National Rally is topping presidential polls. And, of course, in the US, Donald Trump is back.
He also hit out at close Trump ally Elon Musk, adding: “A billionaire bully shouldn’t be able to use his social media platform as a propaganda tool to amplify lies and advance the cause of the far right.”
Asked about his comments on the BBC on Sunday, Treasury minister Darren Jones said: “I don’t agree with it. I speak on behalf of the government, and we don’t agree with it.”
He added: “President-elect Trump won an enormous election victory in the United States.”
He also said Lord Mandelson would make a “brilliant” ambassador.
He said: “For the first time in, I think, maybe 50 years … a British prime minister has picked a politician to be the ambassador in DC. We have brilliant diplomats and Karen Pierce has done a brilliant job, but the reason the prime minister picked Peter Mandelson was because we want to do things differently.
“I think Peter Mandelson will be a brilliant ambassador for us and will form a very strong partnership with the new administration.”
And he said “yes” when asked if he was “confident” that Trump’s administration will accept Lord Mandelson’s nomination.
Mr Khan’s warning was slammed by the shadow foreign secretary, Priti Patel.
She told the Camilla Tominey show on GB News: “I think Sadiq Khan’s comments are absolutely unacceptable.”
She added: “The challenge and the onus now is on Sir Keir Starmer, his Labour government. Perhaps his mayor should really now just keep his views to himself, because Trump has a mandate and a big majority and we should respect that.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the prime minister was ‘getting off to the worst possible start’ with the new president.
He said that with the row over Lord Mandelson: “The honest truth is that our government is getting off to the worst possible start with the incoming Trump administration”.
It is not the first time Sir Keir has been embroiled in a row over a senior Labour politician’s comments about Mr Trump.
In 2018 the now foreign secretary David Lammy called Mr Trump a “neo-Nazi sympathising sociopath”.
A year earlier Mr Lammy also tweeted: “Yes, if Trump comes to the UK I will be out protesting on the streets. He is a racist KKK and Nazi sympathiser.”
Mr Lammy has played down the comments, saying all politicians had something to say about Trump “back in the day”.
