Ed Balls brutally reminded a cabinet minister this morning how she once called Boris Johnson “pathetic” for seeking a trade deal with the Trump administration.

Keir Starmer’s government are currently pushing for an agreement with the US in the hope US president Donald Trump lifts his 10% tariff on British imports in exchange.

Although this new trade tax, along with the global 25% levy on cars and steel products, have already rocked the worldwide economy, the government has refused to make any knee-jerk decisions as it holds out for a deal.

Ministers have insisted they will remain calm-headed amid the stock market chaos, even as other countries like China slap retaliatory tariffs on US goods.

But it has now emerged that culture secretary Lisa Nandy claimed in July 2019 that it was “pathetic” for then-PM Boris Johnson to push for an agreement with Trump.

Writing during the US president’s first term in office, she said on X (then Twitter): “Boris Johnson will never stand up to Trump. He’s alienated our European allies and is now in the pathetic position of begging the US for a trade deal. This is a bad day for the UK.”

ITV’s Good Morning Britain presenter Ed Balls reminded the cabinet minister of her words on Wednesday, and asked: “Why was it weak to try and do a trade deal in 2019-20, and why is it strong now when other countries are retaliating, standing up to Trump [which] Keir Starmer is refusing to? In your words, it is pathetic.”

She replied: “I don’t think it’s pathetic to try and secure a trade deal and I never have.

“I think it’s pathetic to run around as Boris Johnson did, trying to get a photo opportunity with President Trump while doing absolutely nothing in Britain’s interests.

“It is of course in Britain’s interests to trade with the United States and we have a very long and deep military and security relationship with them that has survived every president, and has thrived under successive presidents, including last time President Trump was in office.”

She added that it was in the US’s interests to do a deal with the UK, as well.

Balls concluded: “So I think begging for a trade deal if you’re Keir Starmer is not pathetic but it is if you’re Boris Johnson.”