SOMERSET MP Sarah Dyke (Lib Dem, Glastonbury & Somerton) has warned the UK to “stand firm” in order to protect its democracy from “oligarchs and autocrats”.
The words came after Donald Trump was installed for his second term as US President – and unleashed a barrage of executive orders and controversial statements that have stunned many around the world.
His re-election came thanks, in part, to the investment of the world’s richest man – Elon Musk – who is reported to have spent almost $300 million backing the Trump campaign.
And Ms Dyke, who was elected at the July 2024 general election, warned the UK to guard against similar moves here.
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“Donald Trump’s inauguration represented a dark day for many of America’s most vulnerable people including refugees, immigrants, LGBTQ+ communities and minorities. My heart goes out to them,” she said.
“Almost immediately, he has demonstrated yet again why he is an unstable and unreliable world leader with his dangerous statements and actions.
“His failure to rule out the use of military force emboldens Putin and Xi while dismaying NATO allies and undermining global stability. This underlines the need to strengthen trade and defence cooperation across Europe.”
She said the protectionist policy approach of Trump – under his Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement – should prompt a move towards the UK working more closely with Europe.
“The UK must lead on the world stage again, standing up for our interests by working closely with other countries – above all our European neighbours – to ensure Britain can negotiate with Trump from position of strength,” Ms Dyke went on.
Glastonbury & Somerton MP Sarah Dyke has slammed Donald Trump and Elon Musk
She also stressed the dangers of the likes of Musk entering the political fray – which in recent days has seen the billionaire reportedly install private engineers at various US government departments, potentially illegally – depite not being elected to any government position. The White House merely says he is a ‘special government employee’.
However Musk, who owns social media site X (formerly Twitter), as well as SpaceX and Tesla, has also courted the Reform UK political party in the UK – with reports he is poised to donate millions of pounds to Nigel Farage’s right-wing group.
“It is imperative that as we watch the USA enter a fight to save its democracy from oligarchs and autocrats, we do not allow the same to happen here,” Ms Dyke added.
“Make no mistake: Trump, Musk, Farage and corrupt media barons have the same agenda here: absolute power is the end goal.
“We must stand firm against this undue influence on our media and subversion of our political process by misinformation, unelected corporate interests, and corrupt criminals.”
However, it has been reported Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has ruled out banning foreign political donations, which had been proposed by Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Raynor.
A new book – Get In, by Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund – claims Ms Raynor intended to pledge the changes in a speech which was cancelled on the advice of Labour donor, Lord Alli, who was later revealed to have paid for the Prime Minister’s glasses and suits.
Refugees and immigrants are not Americans most vulnerable people, Americas most vulnerable people would be Americans.
Sarah Dyke’s being an elected Member of Parliament (even as a Liberal Democrat) does not give her the right to call for the result of a referendum to be overturned. Do I have the right to call for her being elected as our MP overturned?