Labour ‘working hard’ to win over Trump in case he defeats Harris
Health Secretary Wes Streeting was asked about a 2017 post on social media in which he called Donald Trump an ‘odious, sad, little man’.
Labour has been working hard to win over Donald Trump in case he is re-elected, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said.
Polls have opened in the US for Americans to start voting in what is set to be a neck-and-neck race for the US presidency between Kamala Harris and Mr Trump.
Sir Keir Starmer will have rocky terrain to navigate if Mr Trump wins, in part due to scathing criticism that current Cabinet ministers made of the Republican politician while Labour was in opposition and because of a row over Labour Party volunteers who travelled to the US to support the Harris campaign.
The Health Secretary was asked about a 2017 post on social media in which he called Mr Trump an “odious, sad, little man”.
“The Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have been working hard to build a relationship with President Trump and his team, so that in the event that he is elected as the next president of the United States, we start with the strong working relationship which is in our national interest and in the interests of the United States as well,” he told Good Morning Britain in response.
Mr Trump had a “very good meeting with Keir Starmer not too long ago” and “of course, he’ll be aware of things that we’ve we’ve all said in the past”, Mr Streeting added.
He said that Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who has called Mr Trump a “neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath” in the past, has strong relationships with people around the former president, including his vice presidential nominee JD Vance.
Though Labour and Mr Trump “may not be ideological bedfellows”, if he is elected “there will be a really good working relationship”, the Health Secretary told LBC.
