Former Tory Cabinet Minister Is Campaigning For Kamala Harris
2 min read
A former Tory Cabinet minister has been to the US to campaign for Democrat candidates because, he says, Donald Trump "flies in the face" of his conservative values.
Robert Buckland, who served as both justice secretary and Welsh secretary during his 14 years as a Tory MP, said he hopes Kamala Harris wins the November presidential election so the UK has a "stable ally and world power at a time when it is needed desperately".
The former Conservative MP for South Swindon wrote for The House about his recent trip to the US, where he knocked on doors in the states of Massachusetts and Connecticut.
He wrote: "It is my hope that the US avoids the chaos and uncertainty of a second Trump term, and that we have a stable and reliable ally and world power at a time when it is needed desperately.
"Like many Conservatives who traditionally identify with the GOP [Republican Party] in the traditions of Eisenhower and Reagan for example, supporting Trump flies in the face of those beliefs."
Buckland added: "The fact that former Vice President Dick Cheney is voting Harris speaks volumes for the state of things."
The former Cabinet minister, who lost his seat to Labour on 4 July, predicted the "nastiest" US election ever, but stressed that it "comes at a crucial time in world politics".
In August, Conservative party leadership candidate Robert Jenrick said he would vote for Trump if he were an American citizen.
However, he appeared to retreat from that position at the weekend in an interview with the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg when he refused to explicitly say he wants Trump to return to the White House.
“The Conservative Party has strong and historic links to the Republican Party, so it is natural that we would lean towards Republican candidates.
“It’s clearly going to be a close race. I respect Kamala Harris, I would obviously seek to work productively and constructively with whoever is the next president of the United States," he said.
“The Conservative Party has strong and historic links to the Republican Party, so it is natural that we would lean towards Republican candidates."
Former Tory leader Lord Howard recently told The House the Conservative party's historically close ties with the Republicans had been complicated by Trump's domination of the party.
“In an ideal world the Republican Party could return to what it used to be, and the links between the Conservative Party and the Republican Party would be very strong," he said.
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