Gavin Newlands MP questions Foreign Secretary on his U-turn on Trump
Gavin Newlands, MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North, questioned the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on his views on the President-Elect Trump and how he plans to work with the new US administration in the future.
Mr Newlands questioned the Foreign Secretary on how the UK will be able to work together with the new US Administration, taking into account the openly expressed racist and islamophobic views of some of Trump’s cabinet nominees, including the recently appointed Stephen Bannon.
Mr Johnson has previously expressed his dislike of Trump but he is now calling for the UK to work together with the new administration and to judge President Trump by his actions in office.
Gavin Newlands said: “People across the world are concerned about what the election of Donald Trump as the President of United States will mean to them following his racist, sexist and divisive campaign which preyed on the fears of voters, and the openly expressed views of the people he is planning to appoint to his cabinet.
“Mr Johnson says that we should judge President-elect Trump on his actions. However, even if we were to ignore the racist, sexist and divisive comments that Trump made during the campaign, we cannot ignore his appointment of Stephen Bannon to a senior position in the White House.
“We need to ensure that the US will continue to uphold basic human rights such as racial and gender equality and hold the President to account if this doesn’t happen. I want to know that the UK Government will speak out for these universal rights if President Trump and his cabinet follow through with their campaign promises.
“It still remains to be seen what the election of President Trump means for global politics but I hope that our world leaders can unite around a more positive, open and tolerant vision than the one in which Donald Trump preaches.”
