Priti Patel defended her past criticisms of Donald Trump on Sunday, telling Laura Kuenssberg that “times have moved on”.
The shadow foreign secretary began her interview with the BBC presenter by slamming the Labour Party for previously insulting the president-elect on social media.
However, Kuenssberg quickly reminded Patel how, the day after the January 6 2021 riots on the US Capitol, the Conservative MP said the scenes were “horrendous” at the “heart of democracy”.
At the time, Patel said: ”[Trump’s] comments of being associated with that violence, and he has failed to condemn that violence, and I think that is completely wrong. People have died.”
“There is no justification for it,” the then-home secretary said, adding that there is “clearly more he could have done and should have done.”
So on Sunday, Kuenssberg said: “I just wonder, after the Capitol riots – back in January 6 [2021] those famous days – you yourself said that Donald Trump’s comments directly led to violence and he did very little to de-escalate the situation.
“Do you want to apologise to him for saying that, as you’re urging Labour politicians to do?”
Patel replied: “That was a major situation, I was home secretary at the time and I was obviously working with our US counterparts on security issues.
“No one wants to see violence after elections.”
Kuenssberg asked again if she stood by her comments, but Patel just repeated that it was a “serious situation” at the time.
“You clearly pointed the finger at Donald Trump for stoking that situation,” the presenter reminded her.
“Well, times have moved on,” Patel said, while saying that the riots “undermined democracy”.
“Do you stand by that? You were clearly very worried about democracy,” Kuenssberg pushed.
Patel replied: “We were absolutely worried at the time, I think those comments – in light of what happened – were absolutely right and fair and relevant.”
She then deflected back to Labour, saying: “The previous comments of our chief diplomat [David Lammy] were much more personal, much more personal and undiplomatic to the president-elect of the US.”
The current foreign secretary David Lammy called him “neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath” during Trump’s first administration – although he has since dismissed those comments as “old news”.
Patel also told the BBC that that she had a “very strong working relationship” with the US in the past, and one that is built on “trust and respect” – and claimed this government will have to work “harder” to earn that.
“Any violence of that scale is unacceptable,” she said. “Within that context, those comments were absolutely right and appropriate.”