Keir Starmer's right-hand man refuses 3 times to deny Donald Trump has Nazi sympathies

One of Britain's most senior Cabinet ministers repeatedly refused to deny that Donald Trump has KKK or Nazi sympathies during an interview this morning.

Amid the row surrounding Foreign Secretary Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden was asked three times by LBC's Nick Ferrari whether he agrees that the new President-elect "has KKK sympathies or Nazi sympathies".

Despite repeatedly pressing him for an answer to the simple question, Mr McFadden clumsily dodged answering it every time.

He initially responded: "I think that the relationship between Britain and America is really important".

Sir Keir Starmer's right-hand man was cut off at this point, as Mr Ferrari pointed out: "That's not the question I asked is it Pat?"

He replied: "I know, I don't want to get into the characteristics of people... what I think is important is this friendship between our two countries".

Nick Ferrari tried again, "you can't say that he doesn't?", with Mr McFadden again swerving and talking about working with Mr Trump for the next four years.

The LBC host tried a third time: "For the third time I will ask you: do you think he has Nazi or KKK sympathies?"

The man nicknamed the real deputy Prime Minister simply replied: "I congratulate him on his win and look forward to working with him".

Despite the fact the question had an obvious answer that could have avoided pouring fuel on the fire of the ongoing diplomatic crisis, Mr McFadden would have struggled to answer the question without landing David Lammy in hot water.

Among a number of furious anti-Trump comments made by the now-Foreign secretary while he was a backbench opposition MP, Mr Lammy said in 2017 that President Trump is a "racist Ku Klux Klan and Nazi sympathiser", as well as a "racist" who "thinks it is OK to have protesting Nazis on the streets".

In 2018 Mr Lammy doubled down, calling Trump "a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath" and "a profound threat to the international order that has been the foundation of Western progress for so long".

Yesterday the new Tory leader Kemi Badenoch raised Mr Lammy's tricky situation at PMQs, demanding that Sir Keir apologise on his behalf for the comments.

The Prime Minister insisted that a meeting of him, Mr Lammy and Mr Trump in New York last month had been "very constructive", refusing to apologise.

Downing Street later broke with convention and insisted that Mr Lammy will remain Britain's Foreign Secretary for the next four years, amid calls for him to be reshuffled out of Government to preserve the Special Relationship.

Last night Sir Keir Starmer held his first phone call with President-elect Trump, and congratulated him on an "historic victory".

Sir Keir offered "hearty congratulations and said he looked forward to working closely with President-elect Trump across all areas of the special relationship."