THE cat is out of the bag, Mhairi Black has said, after a top Labour frontbencher admitted he could be described as a “small-c conservative” politician.
The SNP’s depute Westminster leader spoke out after a clip on social media showed David Lammy, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary, admitting to holding conservative values.
Although the clip appeared on social media on Tuesday, Lammy’s admission came as he addressed a right-wing think tank in the US on May 8.
After giving a speech, the Labour MP was challenged on previous comments he had made about Donald Trump, in which he had called the former US president a racist and a Nazi sympathiser.
Lammy was asked if he felt the comments would make his job harder, if Trump became president and he became UK foreign secretary.
In his response, the Labour MP said he could find “common cause” with Trump because he is a “good Christian boy” who can be described as a “small-c conservative”.
Lammy said: “If David Cameron was sat in this seat … he actually wrote a book in which he described Donald Trump as xenophobic, misogynistic, a whole range of things.
“You are going to struggle to find any politician in the western world who hasn’t had things to say in response to Donald Trump. You’re really going to struggle.
“If I have the privilege of becoming foreign secretary, I am acting in what is the UK national interests as a frontbench MP and I take that very, very seriously particularly in relation to the portfolio I have.
“So, where I can find common cause with Donald Trump, I will find common cause.
“I have many friends in the Republican Party.
“I'm a good Christian boy.
“There are lots of, you know, there are places where I can be described, and have been described, as a small-c conservative kind of Labour politician.
“Notwithstanding what one can get caught up in on a day-to-day on the backbenches, I take very seriously the responsibility if I have the privilege of becoming foreign secretary.”
Later in May, London mayor Sadiq Khan called on his Labour colleagues to stop trying to woo the US right-wing and denounce Trump as a "racist". Lammy refused.
Black hit out at the top MP, saying: “The cat is well and truly out of the bag after David Lammy admitted he was a conservative.”
The SNP pointed to Labour’s welcoming of the both the “far-right former Tory MP Natalie Elphicke and former Tory health minister Dan Poulter” into their party fold.
Black went on: “Under Sir Keir Starmer, we have seen the Labour party lurch further to the right and support more and more Tory policies, completely ignoring Scotland’s needs and values.
“Scotland hasn’t voted Conservative since 1955 – wrapping up Tory policies in a red Labour ribbon won’t fool the Scottish people, and we won’t forget that Starmer tried to pull the wool over our eyes.
“Both Westminster parties now support Brexit, blocking more powers for Scotland, and other policies that only serve to make the rich richer and the poor poorer, as well as stifle Scotland’s potential.
“Labour let Scotland down before and they’re ready to do it all again. Sir Keir Starmer has made clear with his England-only pledges that Scotland does not, and will not, feature in his list of priorities.
“Only the SNP are standing up for Scotland, ensuring our values and interests are represented, and that can only continue by voting SNP at the next election.”
