Trump ally hits out at David Cameron for ‘lecturing’ US

NEW YORK — A leading ally of former U.S. President Donald Trump has launched a scathing criticism of U.K. Foreign Secretary David Cameron — and heaped praise on his would-be successor.

Speaking to POLITICO’s podcast Power Play, Elbridge Colby, who is tipped to become national security adviser in a  potential second Trump administration, hit out at what he described as Cameron’s “moralizing” and “lecturing” of U.S. politicians.

In contrast, he spoke warmly of David Lammy, the U.K. opposition Labour Party’s lead on foreign affairs, saying: “Based on what I can see, David Lammy is far preferable to David Cameron, obviously. I mean absolutely.”

Colby served under Trump as deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development from 2017-18 and is hotly tipped for a senior role in the event of a Republican victory in the U.S. election in November. He currently runs the Marathon Initiative, a foreign policy think tank that is influential within the Republican party and with Trump’s inner circle.

He is also a leading critic of  the latest package of U.S. military aid to Ukraine, which was passed by Congress last month with strong support from the U.K. government. Cameron made a personal trip to Congress and visited with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort ahead of the vote, to plead with Republicans to back the package.

Colby told Power Play host Anne McElvoy that Cameron’s trips to Washington D.C. to urge Congress to pass the $61 billion of aid amounted to an “astounding intervention into the American system … I mean, talk about foreign interference.”

The U.K. government and embassy in Washington have invested heavily in the foreign secretary’s personal advocacy and contacts to consolidate support in Congress for Ukraine.  That cut no ice with Colby, who reflected irritation in some Republican quarters at the tactics — notwithstanding Cameron’s meeting with Trump.

“Cameron finds every opportunity to come and moralize to the Americans after he was responsible for cutting the British military and the ‘panda hug’ of China in the early 2010s. So it’s really the height of audacity for such a person to be coming and lecturing us,” Colby went on.

Encouraging words for David Lammy

There were  encouraging words for the foreign secretary’s opposite number, however. “Lammy is laying out a more compatible vision to what people like me are talking about, which is an increase in defense, spending more of a U.K. focus on Europe. I’d rather have a lot less talk and haranguing and more delivery,” Colby said.

Colby also took a side-swipe at Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s recent commitment to increase the U.K.’s defense budget. Sunak has said a Conservative government would raise defense spending to 2.5 percent of GDP, higher than the 2 percent NATO target the U.K. has so far adhered to.

“The Poles are going to 4 percent defense spending, including over a transition of government. Britain is giving us this fake accounting trickery and then yet coming in and haranguing us,” Colby said.

Labour and some economists have suggested that the prime minister’s commitment is not properly funded.

Britain’s Conservatives also came in for a pounding from Colby for what he described as a lack of pragmatism. “You just need a lot more realism in the U.K. government,” he said. “I find the gap between British conservatives and American conservatives must be at an all-time high. Maybe going back to, I don’t know, 1812.”

In contrast, Colby welcomed the prospect of a change of government in the U.K. coming months, with polls suggesting Labour is on course for a landslide in the general election expected in the fall.

The party has made a feature of reaching out to U.S. Republicans as well as Democrats in recent months. Matthew Doyle, the party’s head of communications, was spotted at Saturday’s influential White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, rubbing shoulders with the senior members of President Joe Biden’s team over cocktails. 

The Colby intervention will land particularly well with the shadow foreign secretary, Lammy, who recently told Power Play he had been been courting contacts on the Republican side of the aisle — despite being known for his close relations with former President Barack Obama and leading Democrats. 

Colby added: “I think what would resonate is actually more compatible in some ways with center-left governments, potentially, for instance, governments that want to have more of a European complexion. You know, my view is if the Americans are going to expect the Europeans to do more, well the Europeans should have more discretion in political issues in their neighborhood.”

Biggest threat from China

The broader message from a leading figure focussed on securing a second term for Trump and an alternative foreign policy vision to his Democratic party predecessors, was that China is a bigger threat to U.S. interests than Russia — and that it was uncertain what the recent large spending package passed through Congress would ultimately achieve.

Colby was clear that this wing of the Trump movement is focussed more intently on combatting a prospective threat from Beijing than doubling down on support for the war in Ukraine.

That message is likely to send shivers down spines in Kyiv and put Europeans on notice that a Trump administration would ask for more self-reliance in defense — and the money to fund it.

You can listen to Power Play here.