Yvette Cooper's social media posts criticizing Donald Trump have re-emerged as she assumes the role of Foreign Secretary, days before the US president's scheduled State visit to the United Kingdom.
The posts, written when Ms Cooper was a backbench MP and published on X (formerly Twitter), include messages from December 2015, February and July 2017, July 2018 and August 2017 in which she described Mr Trump as "dangerous," accused him of "normalising hatred," and criticised what she called "aggressive misogyny," Islamophobia and xenophobia. One post from July 8, 2017, said: "We are forgetting to be disturbed by Trump, he is normalising hatred & it's dangerous." Another, dated December 8, 2015, said she was "appalled by the ignorant & Islamophobic statement" made by Mr Trump and described his rhetoric as "irresponsible & dangerous." Allies of Ms Cooper say she is expected to play a key role during the visit, and a Foreign Office source noted that in her previous post as Home Secretary she had "worked closely with the Trump administration on a range of security and migration issues."
Ms Cooper took up the foreign affairs brief following an emergency cabinet reshuffle prompted by the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary Angela Rayner after she admitted to failing to pay up to £40,000 in tax on a London flat. Ms Cooper moved from the Home Office to the Foreign Office. Shabana Mahmood succeeded Ms Cooper as Home Secretary, and David Lammy, who was Foreign Secretary, became Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister.
Mr Lammy, like Ms Cooper, has previously been an outspoken critic of Mr Trump. While serving as Foreign Secretary in 2024 he faced questions over earlier comments made as an opposition MP, including describing Mr Trump as a "woman-hating, neo-Nazi sympathising sociopath" and calling him a "tyrant in a toupee." At the time he defended those remarks as "old news," telling the BBC's Newscast podcast that "what you say as a backbencher and what you do wearing the real duty of public office are two different things," and saying his past comments had not prevented working relations with the White House.
The resurfacing of Ms Cooper's posts comes about ten days before a formal State visit by Mr Trump to the UK. Her candid remarks, written prior to taking senior government office, mirror a recurring diplomatic theme in which politicians' past social media commentary is reconsidered when they assume high-profile posts that involve managing relations with foreign leaders.
Downing Street and the Foreign Office did not issue detailed public comment on how the posts might affect immediate preparations for the visit, beyond the Foreign Office source's assertion about Ms Cooper's prior cooperation with the Trump administration on security and migration matters. Government allies have emphasised her experience in ministerial roles and said she will be centrally involved in arrangements for the visit.
State visits typically involve a set programme of ceremonial and bilateral meetings intended to reinforce diplomatic ties. Officials responsible for protocol and security coordinate closely with host and visiting teams; the presence of a Foreign Secretary who has previously criticised a visiting leader has in past cases required careful diplomatic management to separate personal commentary from official policy and engagement.
Ms Cooper's social media comments are part of a wider set of past remarks from UK politicians that have resurfaced in recent years as they entered senior roles. Those episodes have prompted public discussion about the distinction between personal views expressed earlier in political careers and the responsibilities that accompany ministerial office. Ms Cooper's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the resurfaced posts.