Donald Trump Jr: UK-US relations 'certainly not' off to good start if Trump wins

Donald Trump Jr spoke to ITV News US Correspondent Dan Rivers and Washington News Editor Jonathan Wald

Donald Trump Junior has said the UK-US special relationship is “certainly not” off to a “great start” if his father wins the election after the Trump campaign lodged an official complaint of election interference by the Labour Party a week ago.

Speaking exclusively to ITV News in Coplay, Pennsylvania, the former president’s son said the accusations of election interference could damage the special relationship.

He told ITV News: “It’s certainly not a great start. It’s unclear what they’re doing. It’s absolute lunacy what’s going on in the UK right now. When they are jailing people for ‘misgendering’ someone. Honestly, it’s disgusting and they should be ashamed of themselves.”

It’s unclear what the reference to misgendering relates to, but it may be reports that the Labour government was considering new laws to punish people for deliberately using the wrong pronouns for someone who has changed their sex, a plan which it has reportedly now rowed back on.

Or it could refer to a new Hate Crime and Public Order Act in Scotland introduced in April which extended protections for stirring hatred against transgender people.

That is a separate issue to the scandal which embroiled the Labour Party recently, in which the Trump campaign accused them of “blatant foreign interference” after some Labour Party activists travelled to the United States to volunteer with the Democratic Party campaign.

An official complaint was filed by the Republican Party with the Federal Election Commission. The complaint centered on whether the Labour Party had paid for its members’ flights to the United States, which could breach campaign finance rules.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. / Credit: PA

Prime Minister Keir Starmer denied any interference, saying the Labour members were volunteering in their own time. He insisted last week it would not adversely affect his relationship with the former president.

The two men had a two-hour dinner in Trump Tower in New York on September 26, which was described as “good” and the purpose was “really to establish a relationship” between the two men.

The foundation of the special relationship between Britain and the United States was solidified in the tumult of the Second World War and has been a guiding principle of Transatlantic relations for some 80 years. It’s diplomatically sacrosanct. The comments by the former President’s eldest son could be a cause for concern on both sides of the Atlantic.

However, there is a wider narrative at play here involving the world’s richest man and his arguments with the new Labour government.

Elon Musk had a running spat with the British prime minister over the Southport stabbings, which left three girls dead and were incorrectly blamed on an illegal migrant. The riots which followed this summer prompted Elon Musk to claim the UK was on the verge of a ‘civil war’.

Musk was on stage with Donald Trump just yesterday in New York and has been campaigning for him and donating huge amounts of money. Trump has promised him a role if he wins a second term: to lead a new government efficiency commission, cut what they think is unnecessary spending, and reduce regulation.

Musk also shared a false social media post in the summer, claiming people could be jailed for misgendering in Scotland.

Now it appears it is not just one of Donald Trump’s main donors who has a low opinion of the British Labour government, but also his eldest and most influential son.