Hours after Donald Trump and Keir Starmer met in New York, the senior Labour MP Emily Thornberry said she would ‘call out’ Trump’s behaviour and said she still considered him racist
A top Labour MP has branded Donald Trump racist after Keir Starmer held a two-hour dinner with the former US President.
Emily Thornberry, who chairs the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, said the UK must “call out” Mr Trump’s behaviour. She added that she would have challenged Mr Trump over his views if she’d shared a table with him.
The Prime Minister dined with Mr Trump in Trump Tower – the first face-to-face meeting between the two. Mr Starmer said he had hoped to meet with Kamala Harris during his trip to the US for the UN General Assembly, but was unable to do so.
Government insiders said the two discussed the “longstanding friendship between the United Kingdom and the United States”. They also talked about “the importance of continuing to develop the strong and enduring partnership between our two countries”.
There are widespread concerns about Mr Trump possibly returning to the White House after the Presidential election in November. Ms Thornberry said the UK “shouldn’t pull our punches” with the Republican candidate.
It comes after Mr Trump came under fire for his extraordinary claim that Haitian immigrants had been eating their neighbours’ cats and dogs in Ohio. No evidence has been produced, with the Republican yet again accused of sowing division.
Pressed by BBC Radio 4 Today host Justin Webb whether she thinks Mr Trump is racist, she said: “Yes, and if I was at a dinner with someone who said things like that then I would call it out. But I don’t imagine that the conversation moved to things like that at that dinner. But if and when things it occurs it needs to be called out.”
She said: “Donald Trump may be the president of the United States in a couple of months’ time so of course, it’s important to have meetings with him and to build a relationship with him.
“Whatever criticisms one may have of Donald Trump, the point is that the office of president is one that needs to be properly respected and the Americans are very close friends of ours.” The Labour MP added: “I think that this is an initial meeting, so there needs to be a certain amount of relationship building and we take it from there. I do think that if there are things the American president does or says that we disagree with, then we shouldn’t pull our punches.”
Mr Trump said he thought the PM was “very nice” and he was “very popular” in the UK. At a rambling press conference at Trump Tower before the meeting, he said: “I actually think he’s very nice. He ran a great race, he did very well, it’s very early he’s very popular.”
He also praised Nigel Farage, saying: “I think Nigel is great, I’ve known him for a long time. He had a great election too, picked up a lot of seats, more seats than he was allowed to have actually. They acknowledged that he won but for some reason you have a strange system over there, you might win them but you don’t get them. Nigel is a fantastic person.”
Speaking to reporters ahead of the meeting, Mr Starmer said he wanted to build a relationship with Mr Trump. He said: “I’ve said a number of times, I want to meet both candidates. We’ve now got the opportunity to meet Trump, which is good. Obviously, I still want to speak to Harris as well but you know, the usual diary challenges.”
