A SENIOR Labour figure has repeatedly dodged a question on whether he believes Donald Trump has “KKK sympathies or Nazi sympathies”.
During an interview with LBC, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden was grilled on Trump’s views following the 78-year-old’s US election victory.
It comes after Starmer congratulated Trump on his win over Kamala Harris, saying it was “good to speak” with him in a phone call on Wednesday.
'Do you think Donald Trump has KKK or Nazi sympathies? Third time of asking.'@NickFerrariLBC struggles to get a clear 'yes or no' from Labour's Pat McFadden amid fresh furore over David Lammy calling the president a 'neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath'. pic.twitter.com/RZifvir2wj
— LBC (@LBC) November 7, 2024
He had congratulated him on social media earlier on Wednesday morning, saying the “relationship between the UK and US is incredibly strong and will continue to thrive for many years to come”.
In the Commons on Wednesday, new Tory leader Kemi Badenoch hit out at Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who had previously called Trump a “neo-Nazi sympathising sociopath”.
However, when McFadden was grilled on this on LBC, he declined to answer, telling host Nick Ferrari the relationship between the two countries is "really important".
When told this was not the question, Ferrari continued to ask with McFadden repeating his previous statement on the importance of the relationship between the two.
He said: "I think there's another point that we shouldn't miss here. Because of the timing of these two elections both being within a few months of one another, we now know the character of the two governments on both sides of the Atlantic for the next four years."
McFadden added there was "big possibilities" for a relationship.
When Ferrari asked for a third time about "KKK and Nazi sympathies," McFadden said with a smile: "I congratulate him on his win and we look forward to working with him."
Elsewhere, speaking to Sky News, the senior Labour figure said: “I think a lot of things have been said over the years, but not just here in the UK, including in the US.
“If you look at what vice-president-elect JD Vance said about Trump, he mused whether this was going to be another Richard Nixon or America’s Hitler, and it’s not held him back from being the running mate.
“Elon Musk (below) as well, advised Trump to walk off into the sunset a couple of years ago, and he’s become Trump’s biggest backer in business.
“I don’t think any of these things will interfere in what is such an important alliance for the world, based on defence, security, shared values, shared history.
“It’s all more important than all of those things, and that is the footing we begin on, and that’s the footing we’ll continue on.”
However, Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney said he is “very concerned” about the possibility of tariffs being imposed by Trump on the Scottish whisky trade.
As part of a wider dispute with the EU, the previous Trump administration imposed a 25% imports of single malt Scotch whisky – one of Scotland’s most valuable industries.
The Scotch Whisky Association said it lost around £600 million when the tariffs were in place between October 2019 and March 2021.
Asked about the impact a more isolationist US might have on the UK economy, McFadden said: “I think you’ve got to understand that in an election, a lot of fiery things are said, and president-elect Trump says a lot of fiery things, and the important thing is what he actually does.
“We obviously have interests as a trading nation. We want to protect and look after our interests, and we always want to have a dialogue with the US administration about those.
“But for anyone speculating about what exactly will happen, I would advise let’s wait to see what he actually does, rather than take everything said in a campaign.”
