A second Donald Trump presidency could end up presenting the “biggest foreign policy challenge” to the UK since the Second World War, a Tory peer has warned.
Lord Hague, the former foreign secretary under David Cameron and once the leader of the Conservative Party, claimed it was going to be “a big problem” for the new government if Trump returned to power.
Speaking to Times Radio, Hague said: “It could be the biggest foreign policy challenge for decades on this since the Second World War.”
He has been reluctant about sending aid to Ukraine and heavily critical of what he perceives as Europe’s dependence on US military aid.
Vance is a vocal supporter of the oil and gas industry, too, and has repeatedly backed Israel amid its controversial war in Gaza.
Alluding to these clashes, Hague said: “If Trump is elected, there have been previous cases where the governments have differed.
“Harold Wilson ... always refused to get involved in Vietnam, quite rightly, as it turned out.
“And that was a difference from the Lyndon Johnson administration.
“But it was just as different. It was just an opt out. Britain just didn’t join in with something that America was doing.
“This would be different – [having] completely opposing policies on Ukraine, Middle East trade and climate – that would be very difficult to navigate.
“So whoever’s going to be that new British ambassador to Washington is going to have quite a job.”
Hague added: “This is going to be a big problem.”
He noted that Trump’s policy in the Middle East is “just back Israel on everything” which is “definitely not the view of a large party of the Labour Party”.
Labour also lost some seats to pro-Gaza candidates in the general election, including the party’s attack dog, former M Jonathan Ashworth.
“You might have a British government deciding it won’t sell any military technology to Israel, but an American government that said, well, we’re sending them everything we’ve got. So that’s going to be hard to navigate. These are icebergs coming to Starmer’s way,” Hague concluded.