Kemi Badenoch demanded that Keir Starmer apologises to Donald Trump for jibes by Labour figures today.
The new Tory leader slammed Sir Keir, Foreign Secretary David Lammy and other senior figures for their comments about the president elect in her debut at PMQs.
She insisted that Sir Keir must invite Mr Trump to visit the UK and address both Houses of Parliament.
The attack came after the premier opened the exchanges by congratulating the Republican. ‘Having had dinner with president-elect Trump just a few weeks ago I look forward to working with him in the years to come,’ he said.
But Ms Badenoch pointed to remarks such as Mr Lammy describing the resurgent politician as a ‘Neo-Nazi sympathiser’.
She asked whether they had said sorry to Mr Trump over dinner in New York – saying that he should be doing so.
Sir Keir is facing a major headache with Mr Trump’s stunning US election win, after tensions flared over Labour supporters helping to campaign for the Democrat contender.
The PM has also repeatedly clashed with billionaire Elon Musk, who looks certain to end up playing a key role in the Trump administration.
When Mr Trump was last president Labour MPs including Mr Lammy signed an early day motion arguing he should not be allowed the honour of addressing both Houses of Parliament during a state visit.
KEIR STARMER
Last year, Sir Keir compared the Conservative Party with Mr Trump as he accused the Tories of falling far from Churchillian values.
‘Is there anybody in the Government now who feels a sense of obligation to anything other than their own self-interest? To democracy, the rule of law, serving our country?’ he asked in a speech in Buckinghamshire.
‘An entitlement to power totally unchecked by any sense of service or responsibility – that’s the cultural stain that runs through the modern Conservative Party.’
He added: ‘These aren’t Churchill’s Tories any more. If anything they behave more and more like Donald Trump. They look at the politics of America and they want to bring that here.
‘It’s all woke, woke, woke. Wedge, wedge, wedge. Divide, divide, divide.’
In June, the prime minister said following Mr Trump’s hush money trial conviction that it was an ‘unprecedented situation’.
‘We will work with whoever is elected president … that’s what you’d expect,’ Sir Keir said.
‘We have a special relationship with the US that transcends whoever the president is, but it is an unprecedented situation, there is no doubt about that.’
In the lead up to this year’s US presidential election, Sir Keir maintained that the Government will work with whoever is president.
FOREIGN SECRETARY DAVID LAMMY
In 2017, Mr Lammy called Mr Trump a ‘racist and KKK/neo-Nazi sympathiser’.
A year later, the Tottenham MP wrote in Time magazine that he would be protesting against the then-government’s ‘capitulation to this tyrant in a toupee’, in reference to Mr Trump’s first official visit to the UK.
‘Trump is not only a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath,’ Mr Lammy wrote, ‘he is also a profound threat to the international order that has been the foundation of Western progress for so long.’
Asked about his past comments earlier this year, Mr Lammy said: ‘Where I can find common cause with Donald Trump, I will find common cause’.
He offered his congratulations to Mr Trump on Wednesday morning, saying: ‘We look forward to working with you and @JDVance in the years ahead.’
DEPUTY PM ANGELA RAYNER
Ms Rayner has publicly criticised Mr Trump more than once in posts on X, formerly Twitter.
On the day of the Capitol Hill riots in 2021, she tweeted: ‘The violence that Donald Trump has unleashed is terrifying, and the Republicans who stood by him have blood on their hands.’
Later in January that year, Ms Rayner said of the inauguration of Joe Biden as president: ‘I am so happy to see the back of Donald Trump, but even more so to see @KamalaHarris as VP.’
HEALTH SECRETARY WES STREETING
In 2017, Mr Streeting called Trump an ‘odious, sad little man’ in a post on X.
‘Imagine being proud to have that as your president,’ he added.
Asked on Tuesday about the social media post, the Health Secretary told Good Morning Britain: ‘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.’
ENERGY SECRETARY ED MILIBAND
Mr Miliband labelled Mr Trump a ‘groper’ and a ‘racist’ in November 2016.
‘The idea that we have shared values with a racist, misogynistic, self-confessed groper beggars belief,’ Mr Miliband told the BBC.
‘And I think we should be deeply worried about the implications for many of the things that we care about. Tackling climate change – he says it’s invented by the Chinese, climate change, it’s a hoax. His attitude to Russia.
‘And then this fantasy about trade. I mean, this guy is anti-trade. He’s an odd combination of protectionism, plus the old trickle-down formula that has got us into a lot of this mess in the first place.’
· Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer: Mel Stride MP
· Shadow Foreign Secretary: Priti Patel
· Shadow Home Secretary: Chris Philp
· Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland: Alex Burghart
· Shadow Defence Secretary: James Cartlidge
Shadow Justice Secretary: Robert Jenrick
· Shadow Education Secretary: Laura Trott
· Shadow Health Secretary: Ed Argar
· Shadow Housing Secretary: Kevin Hollinrake
Shadow Environment Secretary: Victoria Atkins
Shadow Business Secretary: Andrew Griffith
· Shadow Net Zero Secretary: Claire Coutinho
· Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary: Helen Whately
· Shadow Secretary of State for Transport: Gareth Bacon MP
· Shadow Culture Secretary: Stuart Andrew
· Shadow Science Secretary: Alan Mak
· Shadow Scottish Secretary: Andrew Bowie
· Shadow Welsh Secretary: Mims Davies
· Opposition Chief Whip: Rebecca Harris
· Shadow Commons Leader: Jesse Norman
· Shadow Lords Leader: Lord True
· Co-Chairmen of the Party: Nigel Huddleston MP & Lord Johnson
· Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury: Richard Fuller MP
Also attending:
· Parliamentary Private Secretary: Julia Lopez MP
Government sources have been playing up the private dinner Sir Keir and Mr Lammy had with Mr Trump in New York in September, insisting they had struck up a good relationship.
But during the bitter campaign Mr Trump’s team filed an official complaint with federal election authorities accusing Labour of making ‘illegal foreign national contributions’.
Around 100 activists travelled to swing states to canvass for the Harris ticket – although Labour insisted they went at their own expense.
There was also anger that senior figures from the party went to the Democratic National Convention in August and met Harris aides. The two parties have long-term ties.
Ms Badenoch said in the Commons: ‘I would like to start by congratulating President-elect Trump on his impressive victory this morning.
‘The Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary met him in September. Did the Foreign Secretary take that opportunity to apologise for making derogatory and scatological references, including, and I quote, ‘Trump is not only a woman-hating Neo-Nazi sympathising sociopath, he is also a profound threat to the international order’, and if he did not apologise, will the Prime Minister do so now on his behalf?’
Sir Keir replied: ‘There will be many issues on which the leader of the Opposition and I disagree, but there will be issues that do unite this House on national security and Ukraine.’
He added: ‘The Foreign Secretary and I did meet President-elect Trump just a few weeks ago for dinner for about a couple of hours, and we discussed a number of issues of global significance. It was a very constructive exercise.’
Ms Badenoch persisted: ‘The Prime Minister did not distance himself from the remarks made by the Foreign Secretary, and I’m very sure that President Trump will soon be calling to thank him for sending all of those North London Labour activists to campaign for his opponent.
‘Given that most of his Cabinet signed a motion to ban President Trump from addressing Parliament, will the Prime Minister show that he and his Government can be more than student politicians by asking you, Mr Speaker, to extend an invitation to President Trump to address Parliament on his next visit?’
Sir Keir said: ‘I thank the leader of the Opposition for giving a masterclass on student politics.
‘But seriously, we live in probably more volatile world than we’ve lived in for many decades.
‘It is absolutely crucial that we have a strong relationship, that strong special relationship forged in difficult circumstances, between the US and the UK.
‘We will continue to work as we have done in the four months in Government.’
Ms Badenoch swiped: ‘It doesn’t sound like he wants to invite President-elect Trump to Parliament. He needs to look after the special relationship, the US is our single biggest trade partner.
‘Given the risk of increased tariffs on UK exports, which threaten our manufacturing sector, will the Prime Minister commit now to continue the negotiations on our free trade agreement with the US, which the Biden administration cancelled when they came into office?’
The PM replied: ‘Of course we will discuss issues of our economy with the president-elect, as we already have done. Economy, security, and global conflicts are issues of real significance that ought to unite this House.
‘When it comes to the economy, what we’ve done with our Budget is to fix the foundations after 14 years.’
Ms Badenoch complained that Sir Keir had ‘no plans whatsoever for building on the special relationship’.
‘He needs to realise that we in this country rely on our single biggest trade partner,’ she said.
‘President Trump is also right to argue that Europe needs to increase its defence spending. The last Conservative government committed to raising defence spending to 2.5 per cent by 2030, will the Prime Minister finally match this commitment?’
Sir Keir wriggled that ‘there is no more important duty than keeping the people of this country safe’.
But he added: ‘It was a Labour government that signed the Nato treaty in the first place and we are strong supporters.
‘We have a strategic defence review, we are committed to 2.5 per cent, but I would remind the Parliament, the last time 2.5 per cent was met was under the last Labour government.
In interviews at the Commonwealth summit in Samoa last month, Sir Keir tried to gloss over fears the Special Relationship could be derailed if Mr Trump wins.
He insisted that the situation needed to be ‘put in perspective’ as volunteers from parties have gone to help out in ‘every previous election’.
As a backbench MP in 2018, Mr Lammy wrote in Time magazine: ‘Trump is not only a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath.
‘He is also a profound threat to the international order that has been the foundation of Western progress for so long.’
The clashes come after Ms Badenoch put the finishing touches to her shadow cabinet yesterday, drafting in figures from all wings of the party.
She has given Mel Stride the key Treasury brief and unveiled a stunning comeback for Priti Patel – who will be in charge of foreign affairs.
Meanwhile, defeated rival Robert Jenrick has agreed to become shadow justice secretary, and Chris Philp covering the Home Office.
Close ally Laura Trott has responsibility for education, and Andrew Griffith the business portfolio.
But there was nothing for another former leadership contender, Tom Tugendhat – who is understood to have said he did not want to be on the front bench. He joins James Cleverly, another contender, on the backbenches.
The government has been embroiled in a row over announcing that agricultural assets worth more than £1million will no longer be exempt from inheritance tax, which Opposition MPs have been calling on ministers to reverse.
From April 2026, a tax of 20 per cent will be raised on the value of inherited farming assets above the threshold.
While this still represents a tax relief compared to the standard rate, the move has sparked fury from farming unions who say it will destroy family farms and make the UK more reliant on imports.
Labour has also faced anger for imposing a massive national insurance increase after claiming during the election campaign that they had no intention of doing so.
Sir Keir insists he has stuck by a promise not to increase the burden on ‘working people’.
The full shadow cabinet line-up met yesterday morning, with Ms Badenoch underlining her determination to fix rifts in the party.
She said the ‘process of renewing our great party has now begun’. ‘I am delighted to have appointed my Shadow Cabinet, which draws on the talents of people from across the Conservative Party, based on meritocracy and with a breadth of experience and perspective, just as I promised during the campaign,’ she said.
Ms Badenoch said: ‘Our party’s problems will only be solved with a team effort, and I am confident my Shadow Cabinet ministers will deliver effective opposition as we seek to win back the trust of the public.
‘We will now get to work holding Labour to account and rebuilding our party based on Conservative principles and values.
‘The process of renewing our great party has now begun.’
However, Ms Badenoch’s task has been made more difficult by having a paltry 121 Tory MPs to draw on – and big beasts such as James Cleverly and Jeremy Hunt announcing that they would not serve.
Veteran Mark Francois, a supporter of Mr Jenrick during the campaign, has been appointed as shadow defence minister.
Gagan Mohindra, who endorsed Mr Cleverly, becomes Deputy Chief Whip.
Kieran Mullan, who backed Ms Badenoch, is the new shadow justice minister.
Yesterday Ms Badenoch told Tory staffers that she believed the party could recover from the election drubbing in July in time to take on and beat Labour at the next election.
‘She told them we can turn this around in one term,’ a source said.
The new leader told staff to focus on next May’s local council elections as the first target on the road to recovery.
A source said both Ms Patel and Mr Stride are ‘experienced MPs’ who stood in the leadership contest and ‘represent different wings of the Conservative Party’.
The source argued that the appointments ‘demonstrated Kemi’s desire to unite’.
Victoria Atkins is understood to have requested a move from the health portfolio to environment because she wants to ‘take the fight to Labour’ on their treatment of farmers.
A friend of Ms Patel told she was a ‘great’ appointment. ‘They’ve been chatting a fair bit and see eye-to-eye on a lot,’ they said.
Rebecca Harris has been made chief whip, while Nigel Huddleston and Lord Dominic Johnson are joint party chairs.
During the campaign Mr Jenrick criticised Ms Badenoch for a lack of policy.
Yesterday, she told staff that new policy positions would begin to emerge ‘soon’ but said it was right to ‘start with principles and the things that bind us as Conservatives together: freedom of speech, freedom of association, free enterprise, personal responsibility – what distinguishes us from all the parties of the Left who think more government is the answer to everything’.
She urged staff to think again about the way the party approaches politics after its worst defeat in history.
‘She told them they don’t have to do things the way they’ve always been done,’ a source said.
‘It’s time to try something different. She told them to let their creative juices flow.’
Tory insiders said Mr Jenrick had accepted the justice job after tense negotiations over exactly what role he should play.
An ally said: ‘Rob thinks the party needs to come together and take the fight to Labour. Unity could not be more important. He’s eager to expose Labour’s dreadful record on law and order.’
The role will involve him discussing the impact of the European Convention on Human Rights, where he and the new leader had differing views during the election campaign.
She beat Mr Jenrick on Saturday by 53,806 votes to 41,388.