MP Simon Hoare has lambasted US President Donald Trump’s stance on Ukraine and Russia as “dangerous” and urged European powers to “wean ourselves off US defence dollars” and “step up”.
The Conservative MP, chair of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, reacted on social media to recent developments in the US approach to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Ahead of the third anniversary of the invasion, Mr Trump has provoked shock and bewilderment around the globe with statements regarding the conflict.
The president has refused to identify Russia as the aggressor in the conflict, while labelling Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator without elections” and bizarrely claiming Ukraine started the war.
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The approach has led to European leaders touting a reset of relationships with the US, including newly-elected German Chancellor-in-waiting, Friedrich Merz, who said the US “does not care much about the fate of Europe” and pledged to “strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA”.
Mr Hoare appeared to echo this sentiment in his comments, saying the US-UK relationship “is important on many levels but it can never be at any price”.
“It’s true that Trump won the popular and (Electoral College) vote very strongly last November but that does not mean his policies are de facto right,” he said.
“It is undoubtedly true that non-US NATO members need to speedily wean ourselves off US defence (dollars) addiction and step up.”
And the MP also appeared to attack former PM Boris Johnson’s response to the US president’s tactics, which saw the former Tory leader say “Trump’s statements are not intended to be historically accurate but to shock Europeans into action”.
Mr Hoare went on: “Trump’s stance on Putin and Ukraine cannot be explained away as a shock therapy for Europe. It is too dangerous for that. It gives succour to the tyrant while diminishing Ukraine and her allies.”
“To placate and fawn at the feet of a tyrant is obscene to the point of nausea,” he added.
He also criticised Russian President Vladimir Putin, along with President Trump in his remarks, saying: “Putin sees himself as a latter day Peter the Great. Trump sees himself as the great deal doer. They are neither.
“The rest of the world cannot appease or cave to either of them. To do so ends in destructive folly.”
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is due to meet President Trump in Washington on Thursday (February 27).
I think Mr Hoare needs to grow up. Without America there is no defence, his party hasn’t properly funded UK defence for years, he is being very hypocritical.