Foreign secretary dismisses past criticism of Donald Trump in first interview since Republican’s victory

Lammy dismisses past criticism of Trump as 'old news'Source: BBC

Transcript

00:00To put one more quote to you from Time magazine in 2018 and you said Trump is

00:04not only a woman-hating neo-Nazi sympathising sociopath, he is also a

00:08profound threat to the international order that has been the foundation of

00:11Western progress for so long. And I put it to you, you are now the UK's chief

00:16diplomat. This back catalogue of quotes matters doesn't it? Because if he takes,

00:21if he decides at some point in the future to weaponise these, to throw them

00:24back at you and therefore to the UK, that's to our detriment isn't it? He

00:30didn't seem to think it mattered a few weeks ago. But he might change his mind.

00:34I don't know, come on. I think, I think that the truth is when you're doing this

00:42job you understand the extent and breadth of the US-UK relationship. There

00:49are 11,000 troops, US troops, in this country. There are tens of thousands of

00:56US troops across Europe. We have the closest of intelligence capabilities, the

01:02best in the world, on demonstration before the Ukraine war, working

01:07effectively to keep the skies safe over Israel just a few weeks ago. So anyone

01:21who heads up America, or indeed our country, understands that. He understands

01:26that because he's done the job of being president before. And in the end he's

01:31finding common ground, just as I'm finding common ground. You don't get to

01:35be a senior politician in our country unless you can find common ground. And I

01:40might just say to you, with David Cameron as a leading Tory, he asked me to do his

01:47review. With Theresa May, even with Liz Trust as my opponent, you know Chris, that

01:53I'm well known in Westminster. I get along with folk. I just do. It doesn't

01:58mean you don't have sharp backs. You might want to get along with him, but maybe he doesn't want to get along with you.

02:02You might want to get along with folk, even people who have different politics to you.