The British foreign secretary, David Lammy, has described his previous remarks about the US president-elect, Donald Trump, as “deluded, dishonest, xenophobic, narcissistic” and a “neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath” as old news. Keir Starmer’s government is making efforts to smooth over tensions with the incoming president, whose pledge to raise tariffs on imports into the US could hit the UK economy. Appearing on BBC Newscast, Lammy was pressed on his past critical comments but dismissed them, adding it would be a “struggle to find any politician” who had not said some “pretty ripe things” about Trump. Asked if he apologised for remarks including calling the president-elect a “neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath” or if Trump brought them up when they met in New York in September, Lammy said “not even vaguely”. Meanwhile, the deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, revealed she had spoken to the vice-president-elect, JD Vance, posting on X that it had been “good to speak” to the Ohio senator. Rayner also has a record of critical remarks about Trump, previously calling him an “absolute buffoon” over his handling of the Covid crisis. She had told ITV: “He has no place in the White House. He’s an embarrassment and he should be ashamed of himself, especially when thousands of Americans have died.” After he lost the election in 2020, shesaid she was “so happy to see the back of Donald Trump”. The awkward comments go both ways, however. In July, Vance said the UK would be an “Islamist country” under the new Labour government. “I have to beat up on the UK – just one additional thing,” Vance said. “I was talking with a friend recently and we were talking about, you know, one of the big dangers in the world, of course, is nuclear proliferation, though, of course, the Biden administration doesn’t care about it. “And I was talking about, you know, what is the first truly Islamist country that will get a nuclear weapon, and we were like, maybe it’s Iran, you know, maybe Pakistan already kind of counts, and then we sort of finally decided maybe it’s actually the UK, since Labour just took over.” In response at the time, Rayner said Vance had said “quite a lot of fruity things in the past” and she does not “recognise” his view of the UK. Starmer met Trump during a visit to New York in September, where they had dinner at Trump Tower, along with Lammy. Trump will be inaugurated on 20 January in Washington DC.