Sir Keir Starmer has refused to be drawn into a trans-Atlantic spat after Home Office minister Angela Eagle claimed that Republican Presidential hopeful Donald Trump emboldened racists in the UK.
Eagle took aim at Trump this week when, at Labour’s annual conference, she said it was difficult for new immigrants to “rise above the constant drumbeat of toxic anti-immigration, anti-immigrant rhetoric that has become emboldened, not only in Britain but across the western countries.”
Singling out the 45th President by name, Eagle said: “I mean, Trump does the same.
“If you look at some of the memes that he’s using with the wall stuff at the moment, it’s astonishing – quite the level of vitriol that it has created.”
Angela Eagle had taken aim at Trump’s “vitriol” at the Labour conference
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That prompted a dismissive response from Trump’s campaign spokesman Steven Cheung, who told the Politico website: “Nobody knows who this random person is – or cares what comes out of her mouth.
“Who is she and what does she do?”
Asked en route to the United Nations General Assembly if Eagle’s criticism of Trump was correct, Starmer told reporters: “I think I’ve been absolutely clear where responsibility lies for the disorder on our streets.
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Trump’s spokesman, speaking to Politico, asked: “Who is she and what does she do?”
REUTERS
“It lies with the thugs who were carrying out that disorder.
“That’s why I took control of the process to ensure that justice was visited very quickly on their cases.”
The Prime Minister added: “I was really clear in my conference speech about responsibility.
Starmer wriggled out of the row over Eagle’s comments
PA
“It lies with those that were on the streets causing the disorder, and I made clear what should happen to them.
“But as I said in my conference speech, we’ve got to distinguish that from the genuine discussion that we do need to have as a country about immigration.
“If you just put the two together, you do a disservice to people who would never go out on the streets and cause disorder, and do genuinely have concerns about immigration. We need to address that.”