by Alex Morales
May 11, 2017
Britain won’t kowtow to Donald Trump in its foreign policy if Labour wins the June 8 general election, party leader Jeremy Corbyn will say, taking a swipe at Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday for her overtures to the U.S. president.
“Waiting to see which way the wind blows in Washington isn’t strong leadership,” Corbyn will say in a speech at the foreign policy think tank Chatham House in London, according to remarks emailed by his party. “Pandering to an erratic Trump administration will not deliver stability. Britain deserves better than simply outsourcing our country’s security and prosperity to the whims of the Trump White House.”
May has sought to forge strong ties with Trump, becoming the first foreign leader to visit him shortly after he took office, and signaling to journalists that “sometimes opposites attract.” She secured Trump’s commitment to NATO and to forging a new trade deal with the U.K., and even held the president’s hand during her visit to the White House. Since then, she’s also indicated support for U.S. military action in Syria.
“No more hand-holding with Donald Trump –- a Labour government will conduct a robust and independent foreign policy made in London,” Corbyn will say.
’Not a Pacifist’
Trailing in some polls by 20 percentage points ahead of the June 8 general election, Corbyn will also seek to dispel the perception that he may be soft touch when it comes to defending Britain, declaring that he’s “not a pacifist,” and if elected to power, “I will do everything necessary to protect the safety and security of our people and our country.”
“The best defense for Britain is a government actively engaged in seeking peaceful solutions to the world’s problems,” he’ll say. “But I am not a pacifist. I accept that military action, under international law and as a genuine last resort, is in some circumstances necessary.”
Corbyn, a long-time opponent of nuclear weapons, has reluctantly accepted the position of his party to support Britain’s nuclear deterrent. At the same time, he’s been criticized by May’s Conservatives for signaling a reluctance to countenance using those weapons if needed.
"Jeremy Corbyn has spent a lifetime trying to disarm Britain, but now he’s pretending he’s got what it takes to keep us safe,” Armed Forces Minister Mike Penning said in a statement. “It’s nonsense: We know he wants scrap Trident, abandon our allies and would rather talk to Daesh than strike its barbaric leader.”
The U.S.-led war on terror, in which Britain has been the country’s biggest ally, has failed to increase security domestically, and has “caused destabilization and devastation abroad,” Corbyn will say.
“The ‘bomb first, talk later’ approach to security has failed,” the Labour leader will say. “To persist with it, as the Conservative government has made clear it is determined to do, is a recipe for increasing not reducing threats and insecurity.”
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