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LONDON — Britain’s top diplomat David Lammy should make an “apology to the American people” for once branding Donald Trump a “serial liar and a cheat,” according to an ally of the U.S. president-elect.
Ezra A. Cohen, who served as acting under-secretary of defense for intelligence during Trump’s first term, took aim at the U.K.’s foreign secretary as he resurfaced past damning comments about the U.S. Republican on social media.
Cohen singled out a 2019 post from Lammy — then a backbench Labour lawmaker but now one of the most senior members of the British government — in which he branded Trump “deluded, dishonest, xenophobic, narcissistic” and said Trump was “no friend of Britain.”
“He is not fit to hold public office, let alone worthy of our country’s highest honors and a banquet with the Queen,” Lammy wrote at the time, as the U.K. offered up a state visit to the then-U.S. president.
Cohen — who is in the frame for a possible national security or defense role in Trump’s second term — said on X: “Our special relationship with the United Kingdom is of the utmost importance and must continue.
“Thus I look forward to David Lammy’s apology to the American people who overwhelmingly chose President Trump as our leader.”
Lammy’s past comments on Trump have come under intense scrutiny in recent days as Britain’s recently-elected, center-left Labour government tries to build bridges with the U.S. election-winner.
Beyond the posts highlighted by Cohen, Lammy has branded Trump a “neo-Nazi sympathizing sociopath”, described him as a “dangerous clown” and “a racist KKK and Nazi sympathizer” — and vowed to oppose a visit to the U.K. by the then-president.
In recent months Lammy has taken a markedly different tack, seeking to build bridges with key players in the Trump orbit on a trip to Washington D.C. and, last week, saying his past comments were “old news” and stressing his ability to find “common ground.”
He’s faced sharp criticism from conservatives in the U.K., however. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has called on Lammy’s boss, Prime Minister Keir Starmer, to apologize.
Karen Pierce, the U.K.’s ambassador to the U.S., told CBS this weekend that she does not believe Lammy’s comments will hinder the relationship between the two countries.
“In my experience,” Pierce said, “politicians kind of absorb those sorts of comments as part of the wear and tear of political life. What’s important is the relationship now.”
Robbie Gramer contributed to this report.
