Donald Trump is no less of a villain for winning an election – beware his effect on UK politics

The election of Donald Trump as US president is objectively a disaster, for the United States and for the world. So why is the UK government and media pretending it’s not? And why do Conservatives look so happy? 

As the UK awoke to the results on Wednesday, Kemi Badenoch planted her flag. In her first Prime Minister’s Questions as Tory leader, Badenoch tried to embarrass the government by asking whether foreign secretary David Lammy had apologised to Trump for saying in 2018: “Trump is not only a woman-hating neo-Nazi sympathizing sociopath, he is also a profound threat to the international order.” 

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That this statement is factually correct is not changed by Trump’s political fortunes. And one hasn’t noticed Badenoch call for Trump to apologise for having said far worse about the UK. But Lammy looked suitably uncomfortable, and Keir Starmer (who gave Trump his “hearty congratulations” upon winning) said they recently had dinner with the man of the hour.  

Badenoch then accused Keir Starmer of having “no plans whatsoever for building on the special relationship” by signing a free trade deal, adding: “He needs to realize that we in this country rely on our single biggest trade partner.”

Badenoch went on to endorse a key plank of Trump’s foreign policy: “President Trump is also right to argue that Europe needs to increase its defense spending.” Was he also right to argue that Russia could invade NATO members if they don’t cough up more money, as he did in February?

The Labour government at least has the excuse of diplomacy. Even president Zelenskyy is having to make nice with Trump, a man who wants to hand Ukraine on a plate to Vladimir Putin. But is this the sort of relationship countries want with the United States – having to bow and scrape to a coiffured gargoyle like some imperial satellite? 

The great anti-elitist Nigel Farage appears to have volunteered to be our leading courtier, flying to the States to audition for his dream job as US ambassador.

Unlike Ukraine, the UK is not fighting for its survival under Russian bombs, and Starmer can afford to stand up for what he claims to believe on Ukraine, racism, rule of law, women’s rights, climate change and so on. If it turns out to be the case that you can’t criticise Trump without starting a trade war, then the “special relationship” is already dead, and the UK should make other plans. Anyway, what happened to “national sovereignty” being the battle cry of the right?

It’s one thing to have to be polite to Donald Trump. It’s another to look positively pleased about his election, and gloat about it as if it’s a victory for yourself, as Badenoch did last week. This is the latest sign of the Trumpification of the British Right. 

As we saw during the Southport attack and far-right riots over the summer, there is a deliberate effort by media outlets like GB News and politicians like Farage to import a Trump style of politics to the UK. Badenoch and Robert Jenrick ran for Tory leader this way, spreading Faragist conspiracy theories about the government and police hiding evidence in the Southport case – and both were rewarded by Tory party members. 

Badenoch ran as a “tells-it-like-it is” candidate, making Trumpish claims about the UK having an “open borders” asylum system, and attacking maternity pay and the minimum wage. Talk like this gets attention and stretches the bounds of policy debate – and when people complain, the politician can blame liberal or establishment bias. 

She also praised Twitter boss and Trump donor Elon Musk, telling the Spectator in September: “I think Elon Musk has been a fantastic thing for freedom of speech. I will hold my hand up and say, I’m a huge fan of Elon Musk.” This was years after Musk turned Twitter (now X) into a right-wing sewage crisis, and weeks after he used the riots to declare that “civil war is inevitable” in Britain. 

Trump is no less of a villain for having won an election, and pretending otherwise only strengthens his emulators in the UK. 

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