The government should condemn Donald Trump’s refusal to concede defeat in the US election, a stance that poses a danger to democratic values around the world, Keir Starmer’s spokesman said. No 10 has so far refused to criticise the actions of the US president, who has refused to acknowledge the victory of his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, and has continued to make baseless claims of voter fraud. “Donald Trump’s actions are wrong and the British government should say so,” a spokesman for the Labour leader said. “Any attempts to undermine democratic process should not be left unchallenged. We call out that in other countries across the world. And we should be able to do so with our friends and allies in America. The actions are deeply concerning.”
Starmer’s spokesman said the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, had “seemed a bit concerned” about criticising the president’s actions. Johnson and Raab have been repeatedly pressed on whether they believe the president is acting unreasonably. During prime minister’s questions on Wednesday the Labour MP Angela Eagle said Trump’s “continuing refusal to accept the result is both embarrassing for him and dangerous for American democracy”. Johnson said: “I have had a good relationship with the previous president, I do not resile from that. It is the duty of all British prime ministers to have a good relationship with the White House. But I am delighted to find the many areas in which the incoming Biden-Harris administration is able to make common cause with us.” Speaking on Sunday, Raab said: “We really don’t want to get drawn into the cut and thrust, the controversies, the claims, the counter-claims, either in the election or in the immediate aftermath. We respect Americans’ rights to choose for themselves and we respect the checks and balances in the American system which will produce, as they have, a clear result.” The shadow trade secretary, Emily Thornberry, told ITV’s Peston programme last week that the refusal to criticise Trump was hypocrisy. “If he had been the leader of any other country in the world then the foreign secretary and the prime minister would have called it out. [Trump] is behaving like a tinpot dictator … and it’s not acceptable and it should be called out.”