A former British ambassador to the US said he worries “more about a Trump second term than his first term” as the former president’s foreign policy is “dangerous”.
Speaking on Sky News’ Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, Lord Kim Darroch said he thought the UK Government would find it “difficult” to deal with Donald Trump and that Tuesday’s debate between the two presidential candidates could be “pivotal” for the election.
Lord Darroch told the programme he thought Kamala Harris had given a “mixed performance” at previous events and while Mr Trump was “not actually a great debater”, he had a “very forceful presence”.
In July 2019, Lord Darroch was forced to quit his stateside role after messages he wrote calling the Trump White House “inept” and “dysfunctional” were leaked to the press.
When asked by host Sir Trevor Phillips whether his views had changed since he described Mr Trump’s administration as “inept and insecure”, Lord Darroch said: “I worry more about a Trump second term than his first term because first of all, he will be better prepared.
“He will have a greater understanding of how to get his agenda through.
“Second, foreign policy, which is my area, his ideas on Ukraine, his comments on Nato, his threats of imposing tariffs on the rest of the world.
“This is all very dangerous stuff.”
Lord Darroch continued to say that Mr Trump is not a “great policy person” and that his speeches were “mostly a catalogue of his grievances with some very vague references to what he might do as president”.
On the Democratic candidate, Lord Darroch said: “I think she can expose quite a lot of the complete nonsense he talks about his own record and about the state of the American economy and the state of America while he was president.
“But she has to have some, some defences for the attacks he’s bound to launch on her.
“And she has to also, I think it’s more difficult, dare I say it, for a woman – has to strike the right tone, not sort of angry.”
When asked by Sir Trevor whether he thought UK politicians’ expressing negative views on Mr Trump may affect relations between the two countries, Lord Darroch said the former-president was not a “sentimentalist” about the “special relationship” between the two countries and that during Mr Trump’s first term, the UK received “no special deals or favours from him”.
He continued: “I think that he will be briefed because he always wants to know what people said about him, about what some senior Labour politicians have said about him.
“I don’t think Keir Starmer has been out there on Twitter or whatever, being quite so critical.
“And I think, you know, the British government will do its best, but it’s going to be difficult with him.
“I mean, all European governments will find that.”
Sir Trevor then asked Lord Darroch about the Prime Minister’s upcoming trip to Washington and what his advice would be on what to do and “watch out for” during his visit.
Lord Darroch replied: “I think he needs to talk to Biden about Ukraine, because what the West is doing at the moment is giving Ukraine just enough to ensure it doesn’t lose.
“Not enough to win.”
He continued: “I think he needs to say to Biden, is there more that you can do?
“Although goodness knows Biden is trying hard enough to stop the conflict in Gaza because it’s, first of all, risking escalation to the rest of the Middle East.
“And second, is doing huge damage to Western relations with what’s called the global South.”
Ms Harris and Mr Trump will meet face to face at the presidential debate on Tuesday evening in the US city of Philadelphia.
The debate will be aired in the UK on Channel 4 and is the first time the two candidates will go head to head during the campaign as the November election looms.
