Dame Priti Patel was tied in knots after being grilled about her past comments appearing to accuse Donald Trump of stoking violence ahead of the January 6 insurrection.
The former Home Secretary, who has been appointed Kemi Badenoch’s Shadow Foreign Secretary, was called out for digging up old comments from Labour politicians but seemingly not wanting to confront her own words. Dame Priti told Laura Kuenssberg that there was “no point fast forwarding now and taking quotes into the modern context” despite hitting out at Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s previous comments about President-elect Mr Trump.
In a tense exchange, the BBC presenter told the Tory politician: “You said several times that you think this government has to work really, really hard to make to make good, maybe to make peace, with Donald Trump in order to move forward. I just wonder, after the Capitol riots back on January 6… you yourself said that Donald Trump’s comments directly led to violence, and he did very little to deescalate the situation. Do you want to apologise to him for saying that, as you’re urging Labour politicians to do?”
Dame Priti said the 2021 insurrection was “a major, major situation”. “I was Home Secretary at the time then and we were obviously working with our US counterparts on security issues. No one wants to see violence after elections,” she said.
After being repeatedly pressed on whether she stood by the comments, she said: “I think those comments, in light of what happened, were absolutely right and fair and relevant. The crucial thing right now, Laura, is that you’ve asked me about previous comments, and previous comments of our chief diplomat [Mr Lammy] were much more personal – much more personal – and undiplomatic to the President-elect of the United States.
“And let me just add one other thing, our relationships and I have worked with the previous Trump administration, I’ve had a very strong working relationship on security issues, law enforcement issues… That relationship is built on trust and respect. This government, I suspect will have to work that much harder to regain trust and respect.”
Asked whether she still held that view that Mr Trump was, in that moment, a threat to democracy, Dame Priti said: “At that particular time… Let me just put this into context. There’s no point fast forwarding now and taking quotes into the modern context.”
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Ms Kuenssberg hit back: “That’s what you’re doing to the Labour Party.” Dame Priti claimed she wasn’t but then hit back: “Has David Lammy apologised for the comments that he’s made?”
Mr Lammy has dismissed comments he made branding Mr Trump “deluded, dishonest, xenophobic, narcissistic” as “old news” – and he said the pair got on well at a recent dinner. “You will struggle to find any politician. And that’s not just Labour politicians, because the last Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, had some pretty ripe things to say about Donald Trump,” the Foreign Secretary told BBC Newscast on Thursday.