Trump Furious at Ed Miliband's Appointment as Foreign Secretary

The White House is ‘deeply concerned’ about Ed Miliband’s appointment as foreign secretary, with a warning that Donald Trump has not forgotten scathing remarks the former Labour leader has made about him in the past. New prime minister Andy Burnham has been cautioned that Mr Miliband has some ‘serious diplomatic repair to undertake’ in the US, after his promotion to the role on Monday sparked anger from the Trump administration. The former energy secretary has previously clashed with Mr Trump over net zero and his attitudes to democracy and in 2016 he described the president as ‘a racist, misogynistic, self-confessed groper’.

One source close to the president told The Independent: ‘There’s genuine anger about this appointment.’ The two men have been attacking one another for more than a decade. Mr Miliband 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 solace right now.’ In 2017, he said Mr Trump had ‘lowered the bar for idiocy’ and later joined a Stop Trump March in London.

He also criticised the president’s ‘incredibly peculiar relationship with Russia’ and accused him of lowering standards in politics. The new foreign secretary has also described Mr Trump’s criticism on social media of the UK’s stance on drilling for oil and gas as ‘irrelevant’, with the president highly critical of his ‘net zero zealotry’ and accusing him of blocking the UK from expanding oil and gas operations in the North Sea. Steve Bannon, an outspoken ally of President Trump, told The Telegraph: ’The Trump administration took the extraordinary step of warning the new prime minister that the United States would view the appointment of ‘red diaper’ baby and self-described socialist Ed Miliband as very injurious to the ‘special relationship’.

Burnham could not care less – he appointed this twit anyway.’ Former Labour foreign minister Bill Rammell believes that Mr Miliband and Mr Trump will be able to put their differences behind them. He pointed out that both Sir Keir Starmer and the former foreign secretary David Lammy had developed a good relationship with President Trump despite their previous remarks about him. Mr Miliband has pledged to fight for ‘Britain’s interests and our values of democracy, freedom and the rule of law on the world stage’.

He has also promised to deepen ties with the EU and nurture the UK’s ‘strong, enduring and essential alliance with the United States’. Former prime minister Boris Johnson has also claimed that Mr Miliband is to blame for Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, suggesting that Mr Miliband’s failure to stand up to Bashar al-Assad in 2013 led directly to Putin’s first invasion of Ukraine. Mr Johnson wrote on X: ’The failure to stand up to Bashar al-Assad – for which Miliband bears much guilt – led directly to Putin’s first invasion of Ukraine.

An appalling choice for foreign secretary. The Kremlin will be delighted.’