Boris Johnson evades questions over meeting with ‘homophobic’ Trump official
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has evaded a question about senior Trump official Steve Bannon, after holding behind-closed-doors meeting with the incoming Trump administration.
Mr Johnson was asked in the Commons yesterday about his meeting with Mr Bannon – the executive chairman of far-right news outlet Breitbart News who has been hired to serve as White House Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor to the President.
Labour’s Liz McInnes said: “On Sunday, the Foreign Secretary met Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s chief strategist, a man whose website is synonymous with anti-Semitism, racism, misogyny, homophobia, the hero worship of Vladimir Putin and the promotion of extremist far-right movements across the world.
“May I ask the Foreign Secretary how he and Mr Bannon got on?”
Mr Johnson replied: “I do not wish to embarrass any member of the incoming Administration by describing the friendliness or otherwise of our relations.
“What I can say is that the conversations were genuinely extremely productive.
“There is a wide measure of agreement between the UK and the incoming Administration about the way forward, and we intend to work to build on those areas of agreement.”
Breitbart, which often denies accusations of bigotry by pointing out that tech editor Milo Yiannopoulos is gay, is notorious for its aggressive content.
Under Bannon’s leadership the site claimed in one headline: “Big Gay Hate Machine Closes Christian Pizza Parlor”.
Another, reporting a transphobic billboard attacking Caitlyn Jenner, read: “Trannies Whine About Hilarious Bruce Jenner Billboard”. Elsewhere, the site insists: “The Solution To Online ‘Harassment’ Is Simple: Women Should Log Off”
It was previously revealed that Bannon referred to graduates from all-female colleges as a “bunch of dykes”.
Praising Republican women Michele Bachmann, Ann Coulter, and Sarah Palin, Bannon said: “These women cut to the heart of the progressive narrative.
“That’s why there are some unintended consequences of the women’s liberation movement… that, in fact, the women that would lead this country would be pro-family, they would have husbands, they would love their children.
“They wouldn’t be a bunch of dykes that came from the Seven Sisters schools up in New England. That drives the left insane and that’s why they hate these women.”
He added that women on the left were part of a “narrative that is all about victimhood”.
