Needlessly humiliating himself. This will gain him zero goodwill because fascists don’t work that way, they only deal in strength and weakness. This is weakness.
I wasn't overly happy voting for Labour but I expected them to be a little less like Tories. Now I'm terrified we made a massive mistake. What a bunch of cheap whores, grinding away for a heinous despot's dollar.
Alternative approach: suggesting urgent need to beef up armed forces has forced a rethink, Reeves institutes higher rate for top 0.01% of taxpayers and Starmer makes moves to join SM/CU. If Tories/Brexiteers object, hit 'em with "what? You don't support our brave boys/girls in uniform"?
Lammy comes across as a boot licker more than a serious diplomat when he overreaches. Sometimes bridges simply shouldn’t be built.
And yes the “special relationship” politicians here like bringing up a lot makes the UK look subservient and pathetic. Particularly when the US barely even mentions it.
Lammy & Starmer are quislings, tools & fools.
The reality is so obvious to so many.
We NEED a sane government next which means an alliance of @libdems.org.uk @carladenyer.bsky.social @thesnp.bsky.social @plaidcymru.bsky.social independents, & defectors from Labour to push back fascism/corporatism
Let’s hope they are doing a lot better behind the scenes. This is a time when the famous British two-faced deceit should come into its own. Agreeing in public while undermining them with our real allies. If we have any after Brexit.
I once respected Lammy but as Foreign Secretary he stinks. This is just the latest example of reading the room wrongly. Britons are appalled by the power grab going on in the US and want nothing to do with Trump. Now is the time for links with our closest neighbours, not cosying up to fascists.
Turned into a grade A trougher; trousered £75,0000 for being paid to be a 'Friend' of Israel. Wretched kow-towing to Trump & toadying to Vance simply highlights what he sees as his most likely route to further enrichment.
Nearly half is vehicles and machinery, inc. 20% of our car exports. Next largest is chemicals, mainly pharma. Imports inc. 23% of our inbound oil and gas. These are the underpinnings of our economy, plus well-paid jobs in poorer regions. We shafted ourselves with Brexit so are on a knife edge.
Prostitutes have done the same for centuries. Pretending to like the person they're in bed with. It's stomach churning, but diplomacy is sometimes the safer alternative. We will wait and see.
Special relationship-wake up it’s embarrassing. tRump has no friends, his life is transactional - it’s what you give or do for him. Stop kowtowing to a wannabe dictator. Our relationship is with our European partners. Vance was put in that job by Musk - they care for nothing but their financial gain
How pathetic is this ‘special relationship’ nonsense especially with that maniac trump as president? It’s very much like a bullied child at school sucking up to the kid that’s bullying him
Read the room Lammy.. Vance's speech written by Project 25 was a withdrawal from any relationship. Stop tiptoing around.. have you seen what's going on in the US? A new world order.. China Russia and the US.. FFS
There is no special relationship - other than in the mind of too many Uk politicians. The choice is do exactly what we are told or have the US turn around and shaft us when they want to. Forget any special relationship and prepare your defence for when Tango Gibbon decides he want to flex his ego
Labour are such cowards.
They think sacrificing morality for diplomacy is fine. They don't get that appeasement of facists like Trump and Vance is dangerous.
We need to stand closer with Europe and distance ourselves from USA.
This is what I’m finding so jarring - the pretence that everything is normal, that the Trump administration is an ally, and that there are ‘shared values’ and even a ‘special relationship’. It’s like they are burying their heads in the sand
I've said it a few times now - they are nowhere near as bad as the shower of sh*t that preceded them, but Starmer & co never seem to pass up an opportunity to disappoint, do they?
The UK cannot afford to sit on the fence here. We are part of Europe. If the US wants to isolate itself because they have a set of whack jobs in charge, then that 'special relationship' is over, and its time we realised that! I really dont want to feel shame of being on the wrong side of history!
David Lammy is so empty. All his faux-wise posturing of ‘dealing with the world as it is rather than as we might like it to be’. He is, of course, quite happy with the world as it is, as it means a world without Corbyn, and that yesterday battle is all that counts. So here he is, cheering on Nazis.
David Lammy is, like his boss, a weak man and a huge disappointment! No wonder Labour’s performance in the latest polls shows them dropping like a stone. They all need to grow a pair and stand up to America and all right wing parties.
I wished that there weren‘t so
many politicians who kissed ass for diverse reasons. Hell, you‘re supposed to represent the people not your own interests!
You are demented if you think Uk has a special relationship with USA. Or with anyone… Enough bridges have been destroyed in the last years. A lot of them by the Uk!
Special relationship😵💫?! I have two words: Operation Barbarossa! As Churchill purportedly said “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile hoping it will eat him last”! Or is it just special X diplomacy?
I was referring to the idiotic and entirely childish notion that we here in the UK are "Specially loved" by the US not that we have been controlled by them (we have)...
We re-affirmed the existence of a meaningless sequence of two words, confirmed the existence of unicorns and then I gratefully exposed my testicles so the great statesman, K.P. Dunce, could graciously and repeatedly kick them whilst laughing and whistling Rule Britannia.
Imagine what the Americans, whose forebears fought and died in their thousands against fascism think, listening to that utterly disgraceful bullshit, far right propaganda 'speech' from Vance ?
Like listening to Goebels.
No principles and no morals. Selling out his beliefs to stay in a job and keep the money rolling - just like the rest of his “Labour” colleagues. Appeasing fascists never works but they don’t give a fuck.
It is, but US doesn't want allies anymore - Just countries it can extort. Same as trump and musk don't have friends - just people they can use and extort.
Would love to be a fly on the wall at cabinet meetings - “how the hell do we handle this without wrecking our already fragile economy, Let’s try appeasement first”.
A lot of people I know are starting to consciously boycott US owned/invested companies and products. Why? Because we're not being given a choice by our own government.
Coercive being the correct term for this relationship and a huge amount of Pro Brexit funding came from right wing US Oligarchs to separate us from the EU
Exactly. Trump and Vance are living in a cloud cuckoo land fantasy. Europe & other key allies cannot rely on America now. It’s a much needed wake up call & provides an opportunity for a fresh start.
Whenever I see Lammy fawning to Trump & his clique, I recall W C Field's maxim which perfectly sums up Trump's attitude to UK "never give a sucker an even break"
It's unfortunately nothing new for the UK government, particularly the Labour Right, to be grovelling before a psychotic and criminal US administration on foreign policy.
I suspect Lammy’s playing a long game.
Consider the ashes of ‘the special relationship’.
Whatever replaces the Trump administration will come looking for friendly grownups.
Lammy is jockeying for position.
A friend of mine, an American Politics Professor once told me that the special relationship goes like this: the US says "Jump", the Brits say "How high?"
Lot of people commenting seem to think Britain has a choice here? We are marooned between trade blocs, have no industrial base & are in danger of losing the reserve status of Sterling. Who do they think will build the weapons we need to defend ourselves? Investment bankers? We sold the country …
… out & over consumed when we should have been saving & investing. Now we have assets out of whack with wages, no fiscal headroom to invest & predatory US companies buying up our distressed stock. There is no way out that doesn’t involve pain. Empty insults just bring Farage closer to power.
His remarks about free speech in UK and safe areas around abortion clinics were unacceptable. The majority of women who terminate a pregnancy do so with deep sadness. Being faced by protesters and handed leaflets isn’t free speech it’s harassment. Lammy looks weak
Agreed, and his shoddy example of a ‘man praying for his unborn son’ - implying the ‘mother’ was a heathen of low morals, living a feckless sex life was just sick. Intelligent people don’t fall for these nasty, simplistic, made up scenarios- and Americans should know and do better
The praying guy he mentioned had refused repeatedly to move on when asked by the police. He says he's praying for his son who was aborted years ago. Sounds like a mental health issue, but he shouldn't be frightening innocent women.
He's made it clear that the US is an enemy combatant in league with Russia, and will remain so for the foreseeable future, not just the next 4 years - who do YOU think will be Trump III?
The UK / EU are on their own now, and need to act like it. Vance should be prohibited from future visits.
"It's ok that you just body-slammed me into the fridge, dear...I must have said something to upset you, I'm sorry. Here, let me get you a beer and a sandwich."
I don’t know. I don’t mind it as long as that’s not actually the thinking behind the scenes and suitable plans are being made. If “business as usual” talk buys a bit of time it might be worth it.
Not really, just if - and it is a big if because of the unpredictability - at least the trading relationship can be kept sort of normal while we work out what has to be done regarding defence, it’s a start.
You can't have any sort of a normal relationship with an administration that is deleting all of its federal databases and sacking most of its federal employees.
Apart from its very inception and a brief Reagan/Thatcher love-in, it's only ever been a phrase UK politicians used to flatter themselves and take us for mugs.
Unless the UK government does actually want a special relationship with a bunch of amateurs headed by a convicted criminal?
And look at the damage copying Reagan has done to the country. The US has never been a friend. It’s the psycho in the group we all had to tolerate to avoid being killed.
"Luca Brasi held a gun to his head, and my father assured him that either his brain or his signature would be on the contract." Mario Puzo, The Godfather.
"Special relationship". I am now more convinced than ever that this "relationship" exists to fill the coffers of the already hideously wealthy. At the same time misery is heaped upon misery for millions. This "relationship" is a problem not a solution.
Oh the special relationship existed alright, only on the part of the gullible British governments who has forgotten what it took for them to join the war and the debts they had to pay back.
They were owed money borrowed to pay the slave owners when the slaves we freed. Ironic isn’t it that every tax payer in the country (even those of slave decent) were contributing to paying off those debts.
Our government *is* weak and scared with little agency and no self-conviction. Brexit left us isolated from Europe and the Trump administration is undermining NATO, so I'm not sure where we go from here.
Indeed. Vance is breaking the laws of his own country, is seizing powers not in his electoral mandate. He is using his stolen power to bully smaller countries. Appeasement is tempting but dangerous.
I realise that one has to be diplomatic in some situations, especially with Trump and his apparatchiks, but there is no bloody need to fawn and prostrate yourself. There's no coming back from that, it just looks awful to the people we really need atm in the EU
JFC. Vance should not even be allowed in Europe at this point, let alone given a platform or being acknowledged by the UK gov. When will they learn lessons and grow a spine?! Stop leaving the door open for the Reform ghouls!
The Labour Party changed long before the 5th November. A steady drift to the right since the 90s. This is where it has brought us. Let's be clear, there is nobody to blame but ourselves. The UK is no different to the US, Thatcher, Blair, Johnston, Starmer. Individualist's, war mongers, and liars.
I missed most of it but I'm sure you're correct. What I was really getting at, though, is that since 5.11, the right (Labour, in this case) have catapulted through the extreme right and come out the other end, while the previous extreme right are now fascist lunatics being appeased by Labour et al.
Indeed. I stopped voting Labour when they invaded Iraq illegally. Vowed I'd never lend them my vote again. It's been an abysmal slide to the right since.
That I do remember. Blair was/is a cynic who (with Aus conservative PM John Howard) should have been jailed. Aus Labor is superficially similar to yours in that the Right is now firmly in control, but the party's history and makeup are quite different. Interesting if you like that sort of thing!
i remember one lammy quote that stood out in the brexit debates was "if you lie down with dogs, you get fleas" and i've been thinking about that a lot recently.
Too late.
Brit values, such as they are, don't lie only in foreign policy - but at home.
The current Labour government is failing its own electorate - let alone the rest.
He literally stood there and told Europe to fuck off, then went to meet his real allies, the Neo Nazis. We all need to waken up to what these scum are doing, before it's too late.
Lammy channelling Neville Chamberlain and looking weak and subservient, you cant appease Trump fascists. They are targeting European elections favouring the AFD and Reform in the UK.
With people like Trump, Vance and Musk running America how can we ever trust America again, we must get back into the EU . Europeans must stick together
The “special relationship” died the day Trump was inaugurated for his second term. We need to move on and ally ourselves with our neighbours who are facing the same threats we are. There is no other way forward and we need to act with urgency.
I'm hugely embarrassed by the position taken by our government in appeasing these dreadful people!! I want no part of a relationship with the US shitshow!!
'Special relationship'?
Trump and Musk are incapable of any type of meaningful relationship with anyone but themselves.
This country cannot just hope for the best, we need to ally ourselves strategically and economically with Europe.
There has never been a special relationship. They were quite happy to let us be invaded by Germany in WW2 until forced to enter the war by Japan's actions. And fleeced us for decades from the loans given. Still paying it back till recently.
Comments
Makes me want to vomit
Starmer is a weakling
Europe is our place
I HATE THE GOVERNMENT
And yes the “special relationship” politicians here like bringing up a lot makes the UK look subservient and pathetic. Particularly when the US barely even mentions it.
The reality is so obvious to so many.
We NEED a sane government next which means an alliance of @libdems.org.uk @carladenyer.bsky.social @thesnp.bsky.social @plaidcymru.bsky.social independents, & defectors from Labour to push back fascism/corporatism
A fucked economy means a need to keep revenue flowing at all costs.
That 15% of goods that might be st tariffs includes luxury items like single malt whisky that the rich will buy anyway.
The U.K. devoid of backbone and principles!
They think sacrificing morality for diplomacy is fine. They don't get that appeasement of facists like Trump and Vance is dangerous.
We need to stand closer with Europe and distance ourselves from USA.
Smooching with the far right never goes down well.
Fuck this.
many politicians who kissed ass for diverse reasons. Hell, you‘re supposed to represent the people not your own interests!
Our politicians are still selling us out to the bully
Time to rejoin the rejoin the EU
Be with the haters.
https://vassalstate.co.uk/
Love, David.
Like listening to Goebels.
How?
Do we need anything they produce? If not, stop trading.
It's doomed to failure. The US has set itself against Europe. If we don't side wholeheartedly with Europe we will be completely on our own.
Because we can't side with the US - they no longer have, or wish to have, allies.
UK is more or less broke.
So, no contest.
It’s all in your head.
They hate their own people. They’re destroying their own country.
What do you think they’re going to do to other countries?
Didn't know where it came from 👍
Consider the ashes of ‘the special relationship’.
Whatever replaces the Trump administration will come looking for friendly grownups.
Lammy is jockeying for position.
Or a quick smoke.
Or been on the phone.
We can't really have heard him? Can he?????
The UK / EU are on their own now, and need to act like it. Vance should be prohibited from future visits.
Unless the UK government does actually want a special relationship with a bunch of amateurs headed by a convicted criminal?
"Luca Brasi held a gun to his head, and my father assured him that either his brain or his signature would be on the contract." Mario Puzo, The Godfather.
No I won't. No no no no
I've plenty more no's.
Not sure who the schlub he's turned into is, but old Lammy wouldn't have stood for it.
A sad day indeed.
#RedToryScum
It's over. Our values in no way reflect the values of the Trump / Musk administration.
Let the US formally align itself with it's fellow autocrats - MBS, Putin & Xi.
#BoycottUS
#BoycottTesla
#BoycottStarlink
#BoycottFacebook
#BoycottTwitter
#Boycottamazon
Enough now 🤦♀️🤷♀️
🇪🇺🇪🇺🇪🇺
Brit values, such as they are, don't lie only in foreign policy - but at home.
The current Labour government is failing its own electorate - let alone the rest.
You can stick this "special relationship" up Trumps chutney...
In UK politics integrity, honesty and decency have long been seen as barriers.
Afterall by your actions you are known
https://bsky.app/profile/adamjschwarz.bsky.social/post/3li5f7blwcs2o
Touch the hand of the devil and you will be forever tainted
Trump and Musk are incapable of any type of meaningful relationship with anyone but themselves.
This country cannot just hope for the best, we need to ally ourselves strategically and economically with Europe.