Inside Donald Trump's dinner with David Lammy after neo-Nazi comments - 'very gracious'

Foreign Secretary David Lammy insisted helium got connected good with Donald Trump astatine a caller meal contempt his comments branding him 'a pistillate hating, neo-Nazi, sympathising sociopath'

The Foreign Secretary has dismissed comments helium made branding Donald Trump “deluded, dishonest, xenophobic, narcissistic” arsenic “old news” - and helium said the brace got connected good astatine a caller dinner.

David Lammy said it would beryllium a “struggle” to find immoderate person - including Tories - who hadn’t criticised the President-elect. In a podcast interrogation with BBC Newscast connected Thursday night, helium said Mr Trump was a “gracious" big erstwhile helium and Keir Starmer had meal successful New York successful September - with the Republican person adjacent offering him a "second information of chicken" astatine the meal.

The meal was said to person gone well, with Mr Trump reportedly telling Mr Starmer astatine end: “You and I are friends." But Mr Lammy and Mr Trump were the ones said to person truly deed it off, contempt his antagonistic comments astir the Republican politician.

Mr Lammy said they “not adjacent vaguely” spoke astir his past comments, adding: “He was precise generous, precise gracious, precise keen to marque definite that we felt relaxed and comfy successful his surroundings. He was funny. He was lukewarm astir the UK. Very lukewarm astir the royal family.”

The Cabinet curate admitted helium "felt successful his bones" Mr Trump was going to triumph the US Presidential predetermination aft gathering him and seeing his “very good run” campaign. "I came distant and I said to my team, this is simply a precise good tally campaign," helium said. "And what I don't deliberation I rather realised until I had that gathering was successful a mode because... he'd tally a run archetypal clip that radical described arsenic chaotic, but won.

"He mislaid a 2nd clip and helium felt pretty, the run squad were chastened by that. They enactment everything into the organisation of this campaign. And truthful I, my gut had been telling me, but besides my caput had been telling me, that they were successful a beardown position."

Mr Lammy added that helium was a "little spot surprised" that the Democrats had made a determination not to absorption connected the system successful their predetermination campaign. "We evidently had been truly wide astir maturation for us," helium said astir Labour's palmy campaign. "We knew that outgo of surviving crisis, that's wherever the public’s at."

And helium dismissed his past comments arsenic "old quality ", adding: "You volition conflict to find immoderate politician. And that's not conscionable Labour politicians, due to the fact that the past Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, had immoderate beauteous ripe things to accidental astir Donald Trump."

When asked astir his circumstantial words that “Trump is not lone a pistillate hating, neo-Nazi, sympathising sociopath, helium is besides a profound menace to the planetary bid that has been the instauration of Western advancement for truthful long”, Mr Lammy said: "[Mr Trump] didn't look to deliberation it mattered a fewer weeks ago."

Pressed that Mr Trump could alteration his caput and excavation up the aged comments to usage them against Mr Lammy, Mr Trump said: "The information is, erstwhile you're doing this job, you recognize the grade and breadth of the US UK relationship. There are 11,000 troops, US troops successful this country. There are tens of thousands of U.S. troops crossed Europe. We person the closest of quality capabilities, the champion successful the world connected objection earlier the Ukraine warfare and moving efficaciously to support the skies harmless implicit over Israel conscionable a fewer weeks ago.

"So anyone who heads up America oregon so our state understands that. He understands that due to the fact that he's done the occupation of being president before. And successful the end, he's uncovering communal ground, conscionable arsenic I'm uncovering communal ground. You don't get to beryllium a elder person successful our state unless you tin find communal ground."