‘Not an America I know’: Churchill’s grandson launches broadside against Trump
By Rob Harris
London: Winston Churchill’s grandson has voiced his dismay at Donald Trump’s apparent sympathies towards Russia, accusing the United States of a “deep and profound misunderstanding of the truth” in its foreign policy approach.
Nicholas Soames, a member of the House of Lords, was scathing of the US president’s recent actions at the United Nations, particularly two votes where America sided with Russia.
Nicholas Soames at Windsor Castle for the wedding ceremony of Prince Harry and Meghan in 2018.Credit: PA
He said it was “impossible … to take the president seriously”.
“How is it possible that America could have voted at the UN alongside Russia, Syria, the Central African Republic, North Korea and Belarus? How is that possible?” Soames asked Jennifer Ewing, representing Republicans Overseas UK, at a hearing of the UK parliament’s international relations and defence committee.
In UN votes held last month, the US opposed a European-drafted resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and supporting the country’s territorial integrity. Following that, it introduced and voted for a Security Council resolution calling for an end to the conflict, without criticising Russia.
Trump’s foreign policy has long been characterised by his “America First” approach, but he has tried to maintain the “special relationship” with the United Kingdom – even restoring a bust of the iconic British wartime leader Churchill to the Oval Office.
The Churchill statue seen in the background during the controversial meeting of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, US President Donald Trump and US Vice President J.D. Vance in the Oval Office last month.Credit: Getty Images
Soames has dismissed the symbolic gesture of the bust, suggesting it holds little meaning in the broader context of Trump’s policies.
“The sort of awful ghastliness of whether or not there is a head of Churchill in the Oval Office and what that means for the Americans, for the special relationship, is just simply rubbish,” he said.
Soames – the son of Churchill’s youngest daughter, Mary – was a Conservative member of the House of Commons from 1983 before retiring in 2019.
He has had a colourful career, having received multiple speeding fines, been criticised for meeting with Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe, and sacked from the Conservative benches for opposing Boris Johnson on Brexit. He was given a peerage in 2022.
US president Dwight Eisenhower and wife Mamie pose with British PM Winston Churchill at the White House in 1954.Credit: AP
Soames also condemned what he called the “extraordinary … perversion of the so-called Republican Party” under Trump’s leadership, noting that the party had “genuinely” allowed the belief to spread that Russian President Vladimir Putin was not the aggressor in Ukraine.
“I love America, but it is not an America I know,” he said.
His criticism extended to Trump’s treatment of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a recent Oval Office meeting, labelling the meeting a “repulsive defenestration” of Zelensky, suggesting the Ukrainian leader was humiliated “in public as part of a television show”.
In response, Ewing said Trump was an “anti-war president” who wanted to end the war in Ukraine.
The Winston Churchill head has been returned to the Oval Office by US President Donald Trump.Credit: AP
She pointed to recent negotiations, noting that Ukraine had accepted a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in the conflict.
“We’re closer than we’ve ever been in the last three years,” Ewing said. “I think the president has actually got things going.”
Soames also took aim at Trump’s repeated claims that the European Union was established to “screw America”. Trump has used this as a justification for demanding European nations increase their defence spending, while imposing tariffs on imports.
“Without the Americans, there wouldn’t have been a European Union,” Soames said.
“It is a perversion of history, and it’s very worrying to me that America’s policy is being driven by a deep and profound misunderstanding of the truth. The president hasn’t a clue.”
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