Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband held talks in Washington DC on Wednesday with the Trump administration, despite having once called President Donald Trump "a racist, misogynistic, self-confessed groper."
Ahead of the trip, Miliband said he was "committed to nurturing our strong, enduring and essential alliance with the US," and said he was "greatly looking forward" to talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a former Florida senator who Trump appointed as America's top diplomat.
Miliband was pictured dressed casually in jeans and trainers, and carrying a suitcase, as he prepared to fly to the US capital, where his brand of eco-socialism is wildly out of step with the Trump administration.
Years of insults aimed at Trump
Aides were said to be nervous about the potential for a diplomatic upset. Miliband's opposition to oil exploration in the North Sea, and his enthusiasm for what Trump has dismissively called "windmills," have repeatedly attracted the president's ire.
Miliband spent years firing crude insults at Trump during his first term in office, once saying that Trump had "lowered the bar for idiocy." In 2016 he said US voters electing Trump showed "dark days for America and the world." Two years later he joined a "Stop Trump" demonstration in London against the president's state visit to the UK.
Miliband, a former leader of the Labour Party who also served as Energy and Climate Change Secretary, has long been an outspoken campaigner on climate policy. Writing in GQ magazine in 2018, he asked: "What is objectionable about him? His racism. His misogyny. His peculiar relationship with Russia and most of all with the truth."
A timeline of Miliband's digs at Trump
- 2016, on BBC Radio 4: "The idea that we share values with a racist, misogynistic, self-confessed groper beggars belief... I am deeply worried."
- 2016, in an essay: "We must do our best at home and abroad to resist the worst of Trumpism...These are dark days for America and the world."
- 2017, on X: "I know Trump has lowered the bar for idiocy, but..."
- 2018, in GQ magazine: "What is objectionable about him? His racism. His misogyny. His peculiar relationship with Russia and most of all with the truth."
- 2018: joined a Stop Trump protest against the president's state visit and said he would boycott the state dinner.
Miliband has since described his past attacks on Trump as "irrelevant." In 2024 he said: "I genuinely don't think that Donald Trump is reading my tweets."
US Ambassador Warren Stephens said last month that Miliband had been "wrong" about Trump, but played down the issue, saying the comments were "some time ago."
Who is running the country while Miliband is away
Miliband's trip comes as Andy Burnham is on holiday abroad. First Secretary of State Louise Haigh, who was pictured in Downing Street dressed in a suit and trainers, is the most senior minister left in the country to deal with day-to-day events.
Justice Secretary Alex Norris defended the decision to go on holiday, telling Sky News: "The Prime Minister is having a few days away with his family." Norris added: "He will be in constant contact with his office."
Iran, the Strait of Hormuz and Ukraine
Miliband is expected to use the Washington talks to push the US to de-escalate the Iran crisis and ease pressure in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway off Iran's coast through which much of the world's oil shipping passes. Ministers are nervous that Trump could sign a deal imposing multi-million-dollar "tolls" on ships using the route.
On Tuesday, Miliband said securing a lasting ceasefire "is essential to ease cost of living pressures on British families."
Miliband is reported to have been instrumental in the decision to bar US jets from using British bases, including Diego Garcia, to launch their initial strikes on Iran, a move that infuriated Trump and led to a rift with Keir Starmer.
The Foreign Secretary is also expected to urge Rubio to maintain support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.
