As the terrible Kamala Harris campaign seems to have lost the US presidential election to Donald Trump, UK foreign secretary David Lammy has excitedly congratulated him. But he quickly received a reality check.
His message to Trump could have been respectfully cold. But he took a different approach, saying he and his government colleagues “look forward to working with you” and emphasising that “the UK has no greater friend than the US, with the special relationship being cherished”.
Many people online reminded Lammy, however, of his previously strong words about Trump. Back in 2017, for example, he slammed Trump for being “a racist KKK and Nazi sympathiser”.
UK foreign secretary David Lammy congratulates Donald Trump on his election victory after calling him "a racist KKK and Nazi sympathiser". https://t.co/hQS6IvFZJU pic.twitter.com/Usj8PDAdJM
— Declassified UK (@declassifiedUK) November 6, 2024
In a Time article in 2018, meanwhile, he wrote:
Trump is not only a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathizing sociopath. He is also a profound threat to the international order that has been the foundation of Western progress for so long.
But in 2024, he looks forward to working with that sociopath. Apparently, throwing integrity and international law on the bonfire in order to support a genocide will make a person more willing to work with fascist sociopaths.
Lammy on Trump: from correct to crazy
David Lammy’s comments in the past were clear, consistent and, well, correct on Trump. He insisted that the US president was a “far right extremist”:
Trump is a far right extremist. He supports Neo Nazis, KKK and other racists. We need to call him for what he is. https://t.co/pHcwc8uD1M
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) July 14, 2018
He criticised Trump for “promoting a fascist, racist, extremist hate group whose leaders have been arrested and convicted”, emphasising that:
He is no ally or friend of ours.
Trump sharing Britain First. Let that sink in. The President of the United States is promoting a fascist, racist, extremist hate group whose leaders have been arrested and convicted. He is no ally or friend of ours. @realDonaldTrump you are not welcome in my country and my city.
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) November 29, 2017
On this same issue, he argued that:
We should be asking the FBI to investigate, putting @realDonaldTrump on a watch list and barring him from entry to our country. A state visit is a lowly act of appeasement.
Later, Lammy asserted that Trump was a “snowflake” and a “dangerous clown” who couldn’t “bring himself to explicitly condemn white supremacists”. He even brought up a Hitler comparison.
And after Trump’s followers stormed the Capitol in January 2021 following his election loss, David Lammy stressed that “Trump’s shameful actions” had “proved us right” in protesting against him.
Those days are gone
Since becoming foreign secretary, however, David Lammy has insisted on avoiding comments on US politics. That includes when Trump has spread racist lies.
And upon meeting Trump this year, reports say:
Lammy laughed in the right places at Trump’s jokes and the former president personally offered him a second portion of food
The reality today is that Britain is a “junior partner”, as journalist Matt Kennard has explained, to US imperialism. That means loyally submitting to Washington’s will. And as Lammy’s independent challenger in the 2024 UK election told the Canary, Lammy has:
made it very clear that he’s going to be completely under the thumb of the American empire… What he is representing is basically status quo and no change towards Britain’s foreign policy, and no change towards its attitude towards military, defence, climate, anything.
She also slammed his “brazen lies” on the genocide in Gaza, which have continued since the election. He has despicably asserted, for example, that calling the genocide in Gaza a genocide “undermines the seriousness of that term”. The fact that he has received at least £32,550 from pro-Israel lobbyists surely has nothing to do with his spineless apologism for the genocide.
In short, the anti-fascist image David Lammy projected to the world in the past is no more. He now faithfully serves the empire, whether or not it’s in the hands of a dangerous fascist sociopath. That doesn’t mean we should stop reminding him of his past self, though.
Featured image via the Canary
