The US ambassador to the UK, Warren Stephens, was confronted on live television with Ed Miliband’s past description of Donald Trump as a “racist, misogynistic self-confessed groper” — and told the new British Foreign Secretary he was “wrong.”
Stephens, speaking to Sky News on Thursday, was read the comments Miliband made after Trump’s 2016 election victory, including the claim that the US president had “lowered the bar for idiocy.” Rather than brush them aside, the ambassador said the remarks were “some time ago” and that he hoped “his views have changed.”
“US ambassador Warren Stephens says Ed Miliband's past Trump insults were 'wrong' but hopes views have changed.”
“People’s view of President Trump in 2016 is probably a lot different than it is … now,” Stephens added, acknowledging he himself had made statements he later regretted. “I’ve said things where you come back a few years later and say, ‘Yeah, why did I say that? I don’t think that’s really right.’”
Miliband, who became Britain’s top diplomat on Monday under new Prime Minister Andy Burnham, was previously asked about his combative history with Trump. He described his prior statements as “irrelevant”, adding: “I genuinely don’t think that Donald Trump is reading my tweets. I don’t have such a high opinion of myself.”
Stephens’ comments come as Miliband prepares for his first trip to Washington, where he will have to work with the Trump administration. The ambassador’s predecessor-but-one, David Lammy, also had a history of tweeting criticism of Trump but was able to cite a friendship with Vice President JD Vance. Whether Miliband can build similar bridges with a president he once called an “idiot” remains an open question.