Ed Miliband will attempt a charm offensive with the Trump administration on Wednesday despite previous blistering attacks on the US president.
The Foreign Secretary previously branded Donald Trump “a racist, misogynistic, self-confessed groper".
But in a change of tune, Mr Miliband insisted he was "committed to nurturing our strong, enduring and essential alliance with the US” ahead of talks in Washington DC.
The former energy secretary will meet his counterpart, Marco Rubio, to discuss Ukraine, Gaza and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
On Mr Miliband’s past remarks, an ally close to the president previously said: “Trump doesn’t forget. He will not forget. Miliband has some serious diplomatic repair to undertake.”
These are five of Mr Miliband’s rudest digs at Mr Trump.
In a 2016 essay, Mr Miliband said: “We must do our best at home and abroad to resist the worst of Trumpism... These are dark days for America and the world.”
A year later, in 2017, in a post on X, Mr Miliband said: “I know Trump has lowered the bar for idiocy, but…”
In 2018, in GQ magazine, Mr Miliband said: “What is objectionable about him? His racism. His misogyny. His peculiar relationship with Russia and most of all with the truth.”
In 2018, Mr Miliband joined a Stop Trump protest against the president’s state visit and said he would boycott a state dinner.
Mr Miliband was invited to the US capital by Mr Rubio after their recent first meeting on the sidelines of a foreign ministers’ summit in the Philippines, where the senior Labour politician made his international stage debut in his new role.
The dynamic between the two men will be closely watched, given Mr Miliband's fierce criticism of Mr Trump in the past.
The White House was also reported to be concerned about Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s decision to hand Mr Miliband the Foreign Office brief.
In his previous role as energy secretary, Mr Miliband was a strong champion of net zero and renewables, while Mr Trump is a vocal supporter of fossil fuels, including opening up North Sea oil, and an avowed opponent of “windmills”.
