A GB News host who advocated for Donald Trump on the BBC’s Question Time was compared to the fascist appeasers of the 1930s.
Matt Goodwin, a right-wing commentator and former academic, had told the BBC audience that he believed the world was “safer” now Trump was in power in the US.
The discussion was focused on the war in Ukraine, where Trump has intervened with Russian despot Putin – and seen the US essentially concede Ukrainian land and Nato accession before peace talks have even begun.
Asked whether making those early concessions was the right way to make a deal, Goodwin defended Trump – saying he was the “one guy who wants to stop this war”.
“there are Neville Chamberlain’s in every generation” George Monbiot’s takedown of Matt Goodwin and the Reform party is a thing of beauty 👏 #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/KgouBzo5U7
— dave ❄️ 🥕 🧻 (@mrdavemacleod) February 13, 2025
“I feel actually safer with Trump in the White House than [Joe] Biden,” he went on. “That's for sure, because I think if you look at what's happened around the world geopolitically, the only thing people in Iran, Russia, China, North Korea, respect is strength, that's all they respect.
“And Trump, I don't agree with everything he says, but he's a strong leader and he's looking after his national interests.
“We have not looked after our national interest here in Europe, consistently for the last 50 years.
“If we had done that, if we'd invested in our own energy, if we'd become less dependent on Russia, less dependent upon China … we're turning around and criticising the one president who's willing to stand up to China.
“China is actively investing in UK energy markets, making us more vulnerable in the future. And we're now deciding that Trump is the enemy. We are making bad choices, we are making bad decisions.”
Journalist and activist George Monbiot, who was also appearing on the Question Time panel, said that “either Donald Trump is siding with the aggressor against the aggressed because that's the kind of guy he likes, he's attracted to his fellow tyrants – or he is the world's worst negotiator because he has given away those trump cards right at the beginning of the process”.
He added: “I think it's both … We're seeing a transition away from a broadly democratic world towards a broadly despotic one.”
Host Fiona Bruce then cut in to say that, in Goodwin’s view, Trump is “at least doing something … showing strength”.
Monbiot replied: “Well, there are Chamberlains in every generation.”
The reference was to former British prime minister Neville Chamberlain, who in the late 1930s sought to appease Adolf Hitler’s Nazis by ceding them other nations’ land.
As Goodwin appeared to dismiss the comparison, Monbiot went on: “This is direct appeasement of someone who has moved into a sovereign country, seized its territory, sought to seize the entire country.
“It’s as if, if he'd come to the UK, he'd occupied Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and then somebody else like Donald Trump comes along and says, ‘yeah, fine guys, just live with that, no trouble at all’.
“These people [like Goodwin] who go on and on about sovereignty, say they're the defenders of sovereignty, when it actually comes to the crunch, they will sell anyone down the river.”
The journalist responded: “Ukraine does not want to surrender on Trump's terms. It is up to Ukraine, and anyone who cares for a democratic world order, anyone who cares about stopping aggression and expansionism, should side with Ukraine trying to defend its sovereign territory.”
European nations have spoken against Trump tactics in essentially blocking Ukraine from negotiations on its own future, instead only speaking with Russia’s Putin.
Ukrainians living in Scotland have raised concerns that their nation and its people will be overlooked in the negotiations in favour of economic benefits for the US.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday.
In a read-out of the call, the UK Government said: "[Starmer] was unequivocal that there could be no talks about Ukraine, without Ukraine.
"Ukraine needed strong security guarantees, further lethal aid and a sovereign future, and it could count on the UK to step up, he added.
"The Prime Minister reiterated the UK’s commitment to Ukraine being on an irreversible path to NATO, as agreed by Allies at the Washington Summit last year."
