I was right about ‘increasingly unpredictable and dangerous’ Trump, Zack Polanski says
Zack Polanski said his stance on Donald Trump, who he said was proving to be “an increasingly unpredictable and dangerous man”, was “validated”.
The Green Party leader said Sir Keir Starmer was now “saying exactly the same things” about the US president despite criticizing his position “just a few months ago”.
Speaking at the Green Party’s local election launch in London, Polanski said his party was “heading for a new record-breaking result” at the polls in May.
Answering questions on defence, he said Britain should try to strengthen ties with Europe to bolster defence, arguing the UK is not safe “when our security relies on Donald Trump”.
“I think we see in Donald Trump an increasingly unpredictable and dangerous man,” the Green Party leader said.
“Just a few days ago he said he was willing to destroy a civilization.
“Now thankfully and hopefully this has been postponed because the ceasefire lasted two weeks. But we know that Israel also took advantage of the ceasefire that we saw in terms of the bombing that we saw in Lebanon.”
Adding that he now felt his position was “vindicated”, he said: “We had a Labor government attacking me for those comments a few months ago but now they are saying exactly the same thing.
“It didn’t take a rocket scientist to look at this guy and say he’s not someone we can trust for the security of this country.”
The UK’s relations with Washington have soured in recent weeks after President Trump repeatedly criticized Sir Keir Starmer’s response to the conflict.
The US President’s public comments – including most recently comparing Sir Keir to Neville Chamberlain – have highlighted his increasingly strained relationship and raised questions about Britain’s diplomatic ties with America.
Arguing that Brexit was “one of the most disastrous decisions this country has ever made”, Polanski repeated his call for the UK to look more to its European neighbors and allies on security.
“I think now is the time to talk to our European neighbors about what alliance means.” [and] security looks like without trusting Donald Trump. But actually, I think our hands are becoming increasingly difficult in this regard.”
He added: “I think we need to look generally at a big holistic view of what our national security looks like, because the first principle, the rule of any government and indeed any political leader should be to protect the people in this country.
“And we know we are not safe when our safety depends on Donald Trump.”
His comments came after former national security adviser Lord Peter Ricketts warned that Britain should “completely forget” the idea of a special relationship with the US and “no longer trust Washington” as an ally.
Sir Keir refused to say whether his relationship with Trump had soured during his visit to the Gulf on Wednesday but defended his guiding “principles” on the Middle East conflict.
Asked if his relationship with the US president had been “rocky”, the prime minister told broadcasters: “As you would expect from a British prime minister, I acted with full focus on our national interests and so implemented my principles and values throughout.”
