Countdown host Nick Hewer has called Donald Trump a “shark” as he warned Theresa May of being naive and claiming the US President’s ‘Muslim ban’ will be the “greatest recruiting sergeant” for terror groups.
On the BBC’s flagship politics show Question Time, which came from Wallasey, Merseyside, the former star of the UK version of The Apprentice made clear his alarm following the Prime Minister’s two-day visit to Washington, the prospect of a Trump state visit to the UK, and the US travel ban.
In a fierce attack, he said:
“Theresa May rushes off to Washington. ‘I’m first, I’m first. The special relationship. Let’s invite him, let’s capture his heart. Let’s make sure we’ve got this great relationship.’
“Donald Trump is a shark. He doesn’t know what he did yesterday, he’s not altogether sure what he’s doing today. He’s eating for the day. If Theresa May thinks she’s made a deal with him, she is sorely mistaken.”
On the ban, he quoted journalist Patrick Cockburn who said Trump “has turned himself into the greatest recruiting sergeant” for extreme Islamist groups. He added:
“What he has done with that long-winded signature of his is to turn every Muslim in the world to question where they stand in the eyes of one of the greatest nations in the world. And they feel less for the States now and that inexorably leads to recruits joining ISIS rather than fighting ISIS.”
Trump and Hewer’s former boss, Lord Alan Sugar, have sparred repeatedly on Twitter over the years on everything from ratings to wind farms.
Panelists on the BBC show, presented by David Dimbleby, included Conservative MP Patrick McLoughlin, Labour frontbencher Rebecca Long Bailey, LBC host Maajid Nawaz, and journalist Laura Perrins.