United Kingdom Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Monday praised President Donald Trump as "gracious and generous" and claimed the world is glad he's returning to the White House.  

Lammy, who in 2018 described Trump as a "tyrant" and "woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathizing sociopath" amid efforts to secure a trade deal with the U.S., insisted Monday he would be able to find "common ground" with the president.

Trump, Lammy told the BBC’s Newscast podcast, is "someone that we can build a relationship with in our national interest."

He also said his previous remarks were "old news."

"In that period, particularly with people on Twitter, lots of things were said about Donald Trump," he said.

"I think that what you say as a backbencher and what you do wearing the real duty of public office are two different things.

"And I am foreign secretary. There are things I know now that I didn't know back then."

Lammy also called Trump a “very gracious host” who offered him "a second portion of chicken" during their dinner in September last year.

He told the BBC Trump was "not in any sense a warmonger."

"In reckoning with the world's most malign interests he was very clear — he wanted to be strong and powerful, but he is not embracing war," he added.

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