May 8, 2024 - 5:30pm

David Lammy has defended Donald Trump’s Nato stance in a speech in the US today.

The Shadow Foreign Secretary praised Joe Biden and Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson for securing the latest round of American funding for Ukraine, but went on to defend the previous president’s record on Nato.

“This brings me to President Trump, a leader whose attitude to European security is often misunderstood,” Lammy told a US audience at the Right-leaning Hudson Institute. “I do not believe that he’s arguing that the United States should abandon Europe. He wants Europeans to do more to ensure a better defended Europe.”

Trump reportedly considered pulling the US out of Nato during his first term, and it’s been widely speculated that he might attempt this in a possible second term. In March, he said he would remain in Nato if European countries paid their fair share. A month earlier, he said he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to Nato member countries which don’t pay enough for defence.

“US spending on defence actually grew under President Trump, as did the defence spending of the wider Alliance during his tenure,” Lammy said. “When he began his campaign, only four European countries were spending their 2% of GDP on defence. The number was 10 by the time he left office, and it is 18 today.” He continued: “I tell my European friends: don’t personalise this. ‘Do more’ is the American ask, no matter who wins.”

Lammy, who also touted his friendship with Republicans and his Christian faith, is the latest senior UK politician to signal openness to Trump, perhaps in anticipation of the latter’s victory in November. Foreign Secretary David Cameron met with the former president at Mar a Lago while visiting the US last month.

“You’re going to struggle to find any politician in the Western world who hasn’t had things to say in response to Donald Trump,” Lammy said. “If I have the privilege of becoming Foreign Secretary, I am acting in what is the UK national interest as a frontbench MP […] and so when I can find common cause with Donald Trump, I will find common cause.”


is UnHerd’s US correspondent.

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