Farage’s new bid to be unofficial UK ambassador to Donald Trump

Nigel Farage has offered his services to Sir Keir Starmer’s administration, saying he would be “useful as an interlocutor” with Donald Trump.

The Reform UK leader – a close ally of Mr Trump and the only UK politician who was at his Palm Beach home on election night - described Mr Trump as a “pro-British American president”.

He claimed the Republican politician would give the UK “potentially huge opportunities if we can overcome the difficulties that the whole of the cabinet have been rude about him”.

It comes as the prime minister attempts to build bridges with Mr Trump’s administration ahead of him returning to the White House, following a row over Labour activists campaigning for Kamala Harris and controversy over comments previously made by foreign secretary David Lammy.

Sir Keir defended his foreign secretary, who in the past called Donald Trump a “neo-Nazi sympathising sociopath”.

The Reform UK leader said he has “got a great relationship” with the president-elect, adding that he knows people he believes will be in Mr Trump’s administration for “quite a long time”.

In 2016, Mr Trump claimed “many people” would like to see Mr Farage as the British ambassador to the US, saying he would do a “great job”.

Speaking to the PA news agency at a Reform event in Exeter, the Reform MP said: “I’ve got a great relationship with Donald Trump but equally I know many of the other senior figures who will be in this administration and I’ve known them for quite a long time.

“It seems to me that with a Labour Party and a Republican Party who disagree on so many things – who are such fundamentally different people – that I might be useful as an interlocutor. Unofficially, behind the scenes, to try and help mend some of those fences.

“If the government choose to use me, I would do that not because I support the Labour government but because I believe in something called the national interest.”

It comes amid growing speculation over who might replace Karen Pierce, the UK ambassador to the US.

On Tuesday, cabinet minister Pat McFadden said Ms Pierce is “doing an excellent job” and the government wants her “to keep on doing the job”.

Her term is due to end in early 2025, with speculation about her replacement circulating from before the general election.

While Mr Farage said Sir Keir should “roll out the red carpet” for Trump, such a possibility has sparked backlash.

Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), this week told The Independent such a move would be “obscene”, saying Mr Trump’s election is “disastrous for trade unions and the labour movement globally”.

“Trump is a far-right nationalist demagogue who has launched a racist and misogynistic ‘hate-fest’ in the US,” he added.

Meanwhile, former shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry warned Sir Keir against “holding Trump’s hand”.

The chair of the foreign affairs select committee told The Independent: “It is in Britain’s interests not to alienate the president-elect of the USA, but we must of course balance that with standing up for our values and beliefs. There is no need to hold his hand.”

Downing Street has been contacted for comment.