Labour's flip-flopping Lammy says he'll now work with Trump... despite previously calling him a 'woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath'

David Lammy yesterday vowed to find 'common cause' with Donald Trump as he performed a U-turn over his stance on the former president.

Labour's shadow foreign secretary boasted he has 'many friends in the Republican Party' and is considered a 'small-C Conservative' in some circles as he insisted he could work with Mr Trump if both are elected this year.

He even said Mr Trump's aggressive stance towards Nato members' defence spending was 'often misunderstood' and praised the fact more countries increased spending while he was in office.

The comments were in stark contrast to an article Mr Lammy wrote in 2018 for Time magazine in which he branded Mr Trump a 'woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath'.

And in 2019, when Mr Trump visited London, Mr Lammy said he would join protesters in Trafalgar Square demonstrating against his welcome by the UK Government. 

Mr Lammy was speaking at a think-tank event in Washington yesterday where he was asked whether he regrets the remarks, given that Mr Trump could be re-elected as US president and Mr Lammy as Britain's next foreign secretary.

He said: 'You're going to struggle to find any politician in the Western world who hasn't had things to say in response to Donald Trump. You're really going to struggle.

'If I have the privilege of becoming Foreign Secretary, I am acting in what is the UK national interest as a frontbench MP and I take that very, very seriously.

'And so where I can find common cause with Donald Trump, I will find common cause.'

At the Hudson Institute event Mr Lammy suggested Labour would try to hit the Government's defence spending target of 2.5 per cent of GDP sooner than expected – arguing that the UK and European countries must 'shoulder our part of the burden' amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict.