Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy have been told they must work “twice as hard” to repair transatlantic damage with Donald Trump after their “immature and reckless statements”. Mr Lammy has referred to the President-elect as a “woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath” and a “tyrant in a toupee”.

Another potential difficulty for Starmer is the fact that the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, is set to be a key figure in the Trump administration while simultaneously being at war with the Labour government.

The prime minister wants talks with the new U.S. president’s team to start in the weeks ahead, he told POLITICO.