Britain must use its “special relationship” with the US to try and influence Donald Trump’s stance on Ukraine and the Middle East, a former head of MI6 has declared.
Sir Richard Dearlove said diplomats should “try to de-Trump this a little bit” and take his personality and reputation out of talks.
He added that the President-elect is likely to take a “very tough” stance on Iran, adding the “theocrats” in Tehran “will be extremely nervous about Trump’s election”.
But Sir Richard said Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer must build closer ties with international leaders amid fears Europe could be weakened by the US withdrawing military support for Ukraine.
He told Times Radio: “The worrying thing about the administration at this point in time is its attitude to these foreign conflicts are not a great deal to do with us.
“We need, probably in the UK, to use our special relationship with the United States to enter a very practical dialogue with them on these issues and see if we have any influence over their policy at all.
“But relations with US administrations behind the scenes, even ones that are friendly and which we’re close to, take a great deal of hard work at a level below the president.
“And I think you’ve got to think about those perspective. Look, it’s much better if we sit down and think about Trump as POTUS 47, not Trump…Let’s try to de-Trump this a little bit.”
The Prime Minister congratulated Republican politician Mr Trump on a “historic election victory” after American voters returned him to the White House on Wednesday.
And Downing Street, which is seeking to build bridges with Mr Trump after his campaign filed a legal complaint about Labour activists backing rival Kamala Harris, revealed Sir Keir and Mr Trump had spoken on Wednesday night.
Many World leaders are holding their breath to see how America’s stance on Ukraine and the Middle East changes under Mr Trump.
He said: “I think his approach is practical. Look, Nato member countries, generally speaking, have underspent on defence and relied too heavily on the US umbrella and US defence spending.
“The state of the world clearly indicates to member states now that we all have to up our game very significantly, not just 2.5 percent of GDP, higher than that, probably nearer three.
“And the UK included, Germany included, all the primary European nations.
“Now, if Trump, as it were, can force the hand of the European nations in terms of their defence policies to up their spending, Nato will benefit enormously.
“And let’s face it, those countries that sit directly on a border with Russia are already way down that track, Poland in particular.”
Sir Richard also revealed Mr Trump could turn on Vladimir Putin over Ukraine.
Many in Kyiv fear the President-elect will want Ukraine’s President Zelensky to give up some his territory to end the war.
But the former MI6 chief said: “The risk, of course, is that the lever he uses to force Zelensky to the table is the withdrawal of support, financial support and armament support to Ukraine.
“That’s extremely worrying. But we don’t actually know that’s what he’s going to do yet. And I think one should be, as I say, very careful. Zelensky’s had contacts with Trump.
“Maybe Trump, if Putin rejects his deal, will react very badly towards Putin. And there are all sorts of dimensions to this problem.”
