Trump anger at Ed Miliband’s appointment as foreign secretary

The White House is “deeply concerned” by the appointment of Ed Miliband as foreign secretary and warns that Donald Trump has not forgotten the former Labor leader’s past harsh comments about him.

New prime minister Andy Burnham has been warned that Mr Miliband needs to make some “serious diplomatic repairs” in the US after his promotion to the post on Monday angered the Trump administration.

The former energy secretary has previously clashed with Trump over his stances on net zero and democracy, describing the president as a “racist, misogynist, self-confessed abuser” in 2016.

A source close to the president said: Independent: “There is real anger about this appointment.”

The two men have been attacking each other for more than a decade. Mr Miliband has previously said of the president: “We must do our best at home and abroad to resist the worst of Trumpism… These are dark days for America and the world. There can be little consolation at the moment.”

He said in 2017 that Mr Trump had “lowered the bar for stupidity” and later attended the Stop Trump March in London. He also criticized the president’s “incredibly strange relationship with Russia” and accused him of lowering standards in politics.

The new foreign secretary also described Mr Trump’s criticism on social media of the UK’s stance on oil and gas drilling as “irrelevant”; The president has been highly critical of Trump’s “net zero zealotry” and accused him of blocking Britain’s expansion of oil and gas operations in the North Sea.

On Mr Miliband’s past remarks, a close ally of the president said: Independent: “Trump won’t forget. He won’t forget. Miliband has serious diplomatic repairs to do.”

An adviser who worked at both the White House and the State Department added: “This [Mr Miliband’s appointment] It goes down like a lead balloon. The US government no longer takes Britain seriously.

“Ed Miliband is known in Washington for all the wrong reasons. Ed Miliband is seen as an irrational, ‘zero’ extremist who blocks oil production in the North Sea but is happy for the UK to buy Norway’s fossil fuels from the North Sea.”

Although Mr Miliband has previously stated how much he loves the US, the White House is said to be “deeply concerned” about the appointment.

They also noted that Mr Burnham said in 2021: “Any British politician who gives Trump time should be ashamed.”

Mr Burnham chose Mr Miliband as foreign secretary after deciding not to make him chancellor after a backlash from the party’s right wing.

However, as announced over the weekend, the plan IndependentMr Miliband’s mandate is to reform the Foreign Office around the UK’s climate targets and find a roadmap to spend the 0.7 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on overseas aid, which has been cut under Sir Keir Starmer.

But there is also anger in the US over Mr Miliband’s withdrawal of support for the bombing of Syria during his time as Labor leader after the regime was blamed for a series of atrocities in 2013. As a result, the coalition government lost the parliamentary vote and the United States was left alone in its willingness to take action.

Former prime minister Boris Johnson, who is close to senior Republicans, suggested on Tuesday that this encouraged Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine’s Crimea in 2014.

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Mr. Miliband lived briefly in Boston, Massachusetts, during his childhood, when his father, Marxist academic Ralph Miliband, taught there. He is a huge baseball fan and supporter of the Boston Red Sox. He then returned to the United States as an adult in the early 2000s and taught economics at Harvard University for several semesters.

Another ally of the president who works on Iran policy said: Independent He said Mr Miliband was not the only option that raised doubts in the US.

They said: “Miliband is a bit of an odd choice, as is Wes Streeting as defense secretary.”

But former Labor foreign secretary Bill Rammell said he believed Mr Miliband and Mr Trump could put their differences behind them.

He noted that both Sir Keir Starmer and former foreign secretary David Lammy had developed a good relationship with President Trump despite previous statements they had made about him.

Additionally, J.D. Vance had never been a Trump supporter before his election as vice president in 2024.

Mr Rammell said: “I am confident that Ed Miliband can establish a working relationship.”

In a statement following his appointment, Mr Miliband said he looked to the EU first, vowing to deepen ties with the bloc before talking about Britain’s “fundamental alliance with the US”.

Mr Miliband vowed to fight for “Britain’s interests and our values ​​of democracy, freedom and the rule of law on the world stage”.

“I will work to deepen and strengthen our strategic alliance with the European Union, which is so important to our prosperity and security, as well as to nurture our strong, enduring and fundamental alliance with the United States.”

President Trump’s outspoken ally Steve Bannon said: Telegram: “The Trump administration has taken the extraordinary step of warning the new prime minister that the United States will view the appointment of Ed Miliband, a ‘red diaper’ baby and self-described socialist, as very damaging to the ‘special relationship.’

“Burnham didn’t care; he appointed this idiot anyway.”

Independent He contacted Mr Miliband’s office for comment.