Boris Johnson will become Donald Trump’s poodle if he wins the election, warns Lib Dems

Chuka Umunna gives a speech on behalf of the Lib Dems. Photograph: Aaron Chown/PA. - Credit: PA Wire/PA Images

Boris Johnson will become Donald Trump’s ‘poodle’ if the Tories win the election and take the UK out of the EU, the Lib Dems are warning.

Chuka Umunna, the Liberal Democrats spokesman on foreign affairs, has used a speech to say that Johnson will become more reliant on the US president if the Conservatives are returned to power next month.

Umunna said: “Of course, President Putin, President Erdogan of Turkey and Trump not only share a poor regard for Nato, they share a certain type of politics – right-wing, conservative, nationalist and authoritarian.

“It is Trump, perhaps more than any other, who has taken this politics mainstream in the western world. In his words and deeds he has been unafraid to engage in bigoted, racist, sexist and Islamophobic behaviour, to lie and to break the law.

“All the same criticisms apply to the UK’s Prime Minister, who is following the Trump playbook and has become part of this global network of populist right-wing authoritarian nationalists.”

He added: “So, giving Johnson a majority would be to give carte blanche to this type of politics in the UK, something that should worry us all and should be strongly resisted.

“As British patriots, we have got to defend our liberal internationalist, progressive values, British values, in the face of this politics of hate and division which is distinctly un-British.”

The Lib Dem spokesperson also hinted he thought that Boris Johnson was racist.

He told PA: “I think the things that he has said and done are racist. Only he in his heart knows whether he is a racist.

“Likewise with Jeremy Corbyn, Jeremy Corbyn has done things which, arguably, amount to anti-Jewish racism.

“He has allowed anti-Jewish racism to proliferate in the party during his leadership.”

The Lib Dems are committing to spending extra money on defence and aid, claiming that the defence budget will be almost £1 billion more in 2024-25 under the Lib Dems than under the Tories.

They will also commit to spending 2% of GDP on defence, and will also maintain the current commitment to spend 0.7% of GDP on International Aid.

The party said that thanks to the economic boost which they say will result from staying in the EU, this will mean they will outspend the Tories by £340 million in 2024-25.