David Lammy slammed by former US ambassador Woody Johnson for decision to call Donald Trump a ‘neo-Nazi’ – billionaire warns it ‘wasn’t smart’ and won’t be forgotten

David Lammy’s decision to call Donald Trump a “neo-Nazi” was “not smart” and will not be forgotten, a former US ambassador warned yesterday.

Billionaire Woody Johnson, who served as Trump’s ambassador to the UK during his first term, said Labour would have to work hard to repair relations if it wins a second term.

He also warned that the UK would need to make a decisive break with EU regulations in sectors such as agriculture to secure a meaningful trade deal with the United States.

While in London, Mr Johnson met senior figures from the Labour Party, then led by Jeremy Corbyn, and Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary.

In an interview with the Spectator magazine he said: “I met Keir Starmer and, in fact, they didn’t like Trump.

“Keir Starmer is handling it better…” He pauses. “But I would try to be unemotional, practical and try to learn in a new and different way about what’s going on in one of your former colonies.

“George III came to his senses in 1783 when he ordered his people to give the Americans what they wanted.”

Mr Johnson suggested that Mr Lammy, the current foreign secretary, could face particular difficulties after a series of direct attacks on Mr Trump, including a speech at a rally protesting the then-president’s visit to the UK in 2018.

That same year, he described Trump as a “tyrant in a toupee,” writing in Time magazine: “Trump is not just a woman-hating sociopath with neo-Nazi sympathies.

“It also poses a grave threat to the international order that has long been the basis of Western progress.”

In 2019, he ridiculed Mr. Trump, who complained that “there has never been a president in the history of our country who has been treated as badly as I have.”

Mr. Lammy replied: “Four US presidents have been assassinated, snowflake.”

The foreign minister has been trying to improve relations with senior republicans in recent months.

However, Mr Harrison said his earlier insults would not be forgotten.

“I think people will remember all these comments,” he said. “The question is how to deal with them.

“It wasn’t a smart comment. But these things happen in politics… there’s always a way to rebound if you want to.”

Mr Johnson said Mr Trump would likely raise the NATO spending target “higher” than the current two per cent of GDP if he won a second term, adding: “I don’t think he thinks it’s fair, and he said it, that the Americans are fighting battles that are essentially European battles. You guys should be fighting them.”

He warned that a trade deal with the United States would require the UK to break EU farming rules, which have largely been respected since Brexit.

“I think it kind of depends on Britain and how it sees itself in the context of Europe,” he said.

“If the laws and regulations on food and everything else, the standards, are what they are now, I don’t think we’ll be able to get a trade deal.”

As Sir Keir seeks a closer agreement with the EU on farming standards as part of a wider “reset” of relations, Mr Johnson’s comments suggest the Government may struggle to secure a trade deal with President Trump.