DAVID LAMMY IN A ‘DIFFICULT POSITION’ AFTER TRUMP VICTORY, SAYS SHADOW ARMED FORCES MINISTER

FOREIGN Secretary David Lammy is in a “rather difficult position” following the election of Donald Trump as the next US president, according to Shadow Armed Forces Minister Mark Francois.

He said on GB News: “The links are very, very strong, and I’m sure that those links will continue to the benefit of both of our nations and to the benefit of NATO, but Donald Trump does have a reputation for taking sleight personally, so I think this does place the foreign secretary in a rather difficult position.”

Asked if Nigel Farage might be consulted on who the new UK ambassador to the US might be, he said: “It’s a decision for the Prime Minister, not for the presidents of the United States who our new ambassador will be, but it will be a decision for President Trump whether he talks to them or not.

“I think because Labour sent all those activists over very publicly to campaign for the Democrats, and because he was threatening legal action over it, this could be a bumpy ride, at least to begin with.

“We’ll just have to see how it pans out.”

On his appointment, he said: “I think Kemi has been quite skilful in the way that she’s spread the appointments around. A number of Jenrick’s people have got jobs, so have people that backed other candidates.

“She’s done well at uniting the different strands in the party. And one of the things I was very pleased to see her do today was to challenge Starmer directly on why he won’t give a timetable to increase defence spending to 2.5%.

“It said in the Budget red book, we will lay out a path to 2.5% at a future fiscal event, not the next future fiscal event, a future so in other words.

“It’s not just that we haven’t got a timetable to get to 2.5%, we haven’t even got a timetable to get to a timetable for 2.5%, and yet again Starmer ducked that at PMQs.

“They could have said that the review will take place with a timetable for 2.5%. The reason that this really matters, is that unless you put a date on it, you can’t actually draw that line, and you can’t plan the defence budget

“If it was 2.5% in ten years’ time, for argument’s sake, that’s a lot less money than if it’s 2.5% within a couple of years. So the defence budget is completely up in the air until you put a date on that 2.5%.”