Angela Rayner Calls Out Nato Chief For Dubbing Donald Trump 'Daddy'
Angela Rayner distanced herself from the chief of Nato last night after he called Donald Trump 'daddy'.
The secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, Mark Rutte, used the questionable term for the US president during a joint press conference in The Hague.
Speaking after Trump said warring nations Iran and Israel 'don't know what the fuck they're doing,' Rutte justified his outburst by telling reporters: 'Daddy has to use strong language.'
But the deputy prime minister made it clear she would not be using such terms any time soon.
ITV News' deputy political editor Anushka Asthana asked Rayner: 'The sycophany from some people has been quite extraordinary in recent days...'
Pointing to Rutte's language, she said: 'We've obviously ingratiated ourselves to him as well. Do you agree with that way of dealing with him?'
'I don't agree with that language around school children or daddies,' Rayner replied.
'I believe in respecting people's elected position. Not everyone often agrees with me being in my elected position but I'm here, I'm here to do a job, and I think people should go about that job seriously – especially when it comes to politics.'
Asthana said: 'So language matters?'
Rayner replied: 'Language does matter and I also think action matters as well.
'Anything we can do to make sure we have a peaceful future – if you look at the US economy, if you look at the UK economy, people at the moment are fed up, they feel they can't get a home, they can't get a good job, they feel the cost of living.
'Therefore, working with our allies, including in Europe and the US, is what we are trying to achieve to affect British lives here – that's why we've done the trade deals and that's why we're fixing our foundations here in the UK.'
'I don't agree with language around school children or daddies...I believe in respecting people's elected position'Deputy PM @AngelaRayner reacts to Nato's Mark Rutte calling Donald Trump 'daddy' and says that 'language matters' when dealing with the President#Pestonpic.twitter.com/SaFjti1kxy
— Peston (@itvpeston) June 25, 2025
Rutte denied that he had called Trump 'daddy' late on Wednesday.
He told reporters: 'The daddy thing, I didn't call [Trump] daddy, what I said, is that sometimes... In Europe, I hear sometimes countries saying, 'hey, Mark, will the US stay with us?'
'And I said, 'that sounds a little bit like a small child asking his daddy, 'hey, are you still staying with the family?' So in that sense, I use daddy, not that I was calling President Trump daddy.'
When Trump was asked by reporters if he liked being called 'daddy' by the Nato chief, the president said: 'No, he likes me, I think he likes me. If he doesn't I'll let you know and I'll come back and I'll hit him hard, OK?... He did it very affectionately though. 'Daddy, you're my daddy.''
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