Britain’s foreign affairs secretary David Lammy congratulates Donald Trump’s ‘victory’—years after calling him a ‘racist KKK and Nazi sympathiser’

Early this morning, David Lammy congratulated Trump on his victory, while adding “the U.K. has no greater friend than the U.S., with the special relationship being cherished on both sides of the Atlantic for more than 80 years.”

“We look forward to working with you and @JDVance in the years ahead,” he concluded.

Congratulations to @realDonaldTrump on your victory.

The UK has no greater friend than the US, with the special relationship being cherished on both sides of the Atlantic for more than 80 years.

We look forward to working with you and @JDVance in the years ahead.

— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) November 6, 2024

Although the post rings similar to those from other government officials, “David Lammy” is now trending on X, the platform formally known as Twitter, because it marks a sharp U-turn on previous scathing comments he has made about Trump when he was America’s 45th president. 

In 2017, months after he was sworn in to first lead the U.S., Lammy said that he would protest on the streets of London if “racist KKK and Nazi sympathiser” Trump visited the capital during his first term as president. 

Re: Daily Mail story today. Yes, if Trump comes to the UK I will be out protesting on the streets. He is a racist KKK and Nazi sympathiser.

— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) September 26, 2017

And that wasn’t the last time he blasted Trump.

Read David Lammy’s previous posts, including calling Trump ‘no friend of Britain’

Over the years, Lammy has consistently described the businessman-turned-politician as racist, among other things.  

In 2018, Lammy wrote an op-ed for Time where he said he was “one of tens of thousands on the streets, protesting against our government’s capitulation to this tyrant in a toupee [Trump].” 

In the column, he also described Trump as “a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathizing sociopath” who is “a profound threat to the international order that has been the foundation of Western progress for so long.”

In 2019, Lammy called Trump a “deluded, dishonest, xenophobic, narcissistic” and “no friend of Britain.”

Deluded, dishonest, xenophobic, narcissistic, Donald Trump is no friend of Britain. He is not fit to hold public office, let alone worthy of our country’s highest honours and a banquet with the Queen. Theresa May is selling out the UK to a serial liar and a cheat. #TrumpUKVisit https://t.co/2onIyKU8ZO

— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) April 22, 2019

In 2021, he condemned Trump’s entire presidency as one of “a reign of recklessness, narcissism and delusion.”

The British politician has also called Trump a “clown”, “enemy of democracy” and a “far-right extremist”.

Trump is a far right extremist. He supports Neo Nazis, KKK and other racists. We need to call him for what he is. https://t.co/pHcwc8uD1M

— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) July 14, 2018

Lammy did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment on why he has since had a change of heart. However, he started softening his stance earlier this year. 

In July, Lammy defended his previous criticisms, insisting most MPs had “things to say about Donald Trump back in the day.”

He added that he has previously met with Trump’s vice president, JD Vance, and that they have been able to find “common ground”.

“We’re both from poor backgrounds, both suffered from addiction issues in our family which we’ve written about… both of us Christians. And now I’ve met him on a few occasions, and we have been able to find common ground and get on.” 

Still, X users have taken stock of the sudden shift and are now calling Lammy a hypocrite. Some are calling for his resignation. 

“Stand by it and resign or for forever be seen as two faced and insincere @davidlammy,” one person wrote.

Another added: “There’s literally no way Labour can keep him on now as foreign secretary after the remarks he’s made about Trump.”

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