British Labour Party leaders are reportedly furious at U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for inserting himself in the nation’s prime minister race, and saying he’d “push back” against party leader Jeremy Corbyn.
In a recording leaked to the Washington Post, Pompeo was asked what he would do if Corbyn were to be elected as prime minister amid criticism over the party’s handling of accusations of antisemitism within its ranks, the Guardian reported Sunday.
“Would you be willing to work with us to take on actions if life becomes very difficult for Jews in the UK?” a person is heard asking Pompeo at the closed-door meeting with Jewish leaders.
“It could be that Mr. Corbyn manages to run the gauntlet and get elected,” Pompeo is heard responding. “It’s possible. You should know, we won’t wait for him to do those things to begin to push back. We will do our level best. It’s too risky and too important and too hard once it’s already happened.”
The Guardian quoted an unnamed Labour Party official’s statement saying: “President [Donald] Trump and his officials’ attempts to decide who will be Britain’s next prime minister are an entirely unacceptable interference in the U.K.’s democracy.”
The spokesman added the party was “fully committed to the support, defense and celebration of the Jewish community and is implacably opposed to antisemitism in any form.”
Pompeo’s comments came in the wake of Trump rejecting Corbyn’s request for a meeting during the president’s U.K. state visit last week, saying the leader was “somewhat of a negative force,” the Guardian reported.
Corbyn joined protests outside Trump’s press conference with Theresa May, where he pledged to oppose Trump’s drive for greater access for U.S. health companies to National Health Service contracts, the Guardian reported.
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