SIR SIMON BURNS 'Nasty Party' will do Britain no favours

Inaugural speeches by an incoming President of the United States are seen as a declaration of intent to set the scene for his time in office. In the 1930s Depression, Roosevelt inspired a nation with his declaration that ‘there is nothing to fear but fear itself’. In the 1960s, John F. Kennedy exhorted a generation to ‘ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country’.

Donald Trump failed dismally to rise to the occasion, and delivered an unedifying and undignified rant. At a time when the United States is seen more as the Disunited States, he had a golden opportunity to unite the nation.

Instead he served up an edited version of the divisive campaign speech that he has made ad nauseam over the past 18 months.



His ‘America First’ philosophy may play well with core supporters in Middle America. But it begs the question: where does Britain stand in all this?

Trump says he loves the United Kingdom and that we will be at the top of the list for a swift trade deal when we leave the EU. But I don’t see how that can be squared with America First.

His declaration that ‘from this day forward, it’s going to be America first on trade, taxes, immigration and foreign affairs’ does not augur well for any trade deals with Britain or our ‘special relationship’.

For optimistic souls counting on Trump to ease our exit from the EU with a beneficial trade deal, I urge caution. Under America First, Trump will not do us any favours. He is a ruthless businessman and will want any deal heavily slanted in favour of the US.

Trump’s Republican Party is a far cry from the Republican Party of the 1960s and 1970s. The moderates have been driven out and replaced by religious fanatics and Right-wing zealots.

It was Theresa May who famously warned the Conservative Party against being seen as the ‘Nasty Party’. Her wise words laid the foundations for much of our party’s – and her own – subsequent success.

But if any political party now deserves to be known as the ‘Nasty Party’, it is Trump’s Republicans – a party which the Conservative Party is linked to.

We will suffer by association if Trump and the Republicans continue to besmirch their reputation.

For the sake of the Conservative Party, when Mrs May meets Trump she should be frank and repeat her ‘Nasty Party’ warning to him. Otherwise, Conservatives may need to loosen our links to the Republicans, whose intolerant and narrow-minded core beliefs under Trump are so at variance with ours.

His first speech as President proved he remains the self-obsessed narcissus he has always been. He made it clear he does not intend to change in the White House.

It is encouraging that Mrs May will be one of the first world leaders to meet the new President. But she must make it clear that if his Republicans are going to be the Nasty Party on a global scale, many people in her own party will want nothing to do with him.