Sir Grant Shapps, former British defense minister, has launched a scathing attack on former US President Donald Trump over what he described as “disgusting” remarks and a dangerously sympathetic stance toward Russian President Vladimir Putin amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Appearing on the foreign policy podcast One Decision, Shapps condemned Trump’s recent reaction to a deadly Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Sumy—which killed at least 35 people, including women and children—as morally weak and reminiscent of terrorist justifications.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump had described the strike as “terrible,” adding, “I was told they made a mistake.” Shapps, in response, said: “It’s a sort of weasel language. We used to hear it from the IRA after attacks killed civilians. It’s appalling not to be able to condemn it properly.”
The former minister, who served in multiple Conservative cabinets before being appointed defense chief in August 2023, emphasized the global consequences of Trump’s rhetoric.
“This lack of moral clarity is completely demoralizing for the rest of the democratic world,” Shapps said. “The leader of the free world should be able to distinguish between a dictator who locks up and murders his opponents and a democratic nation that’s under attack.”
Shapps also criticized Trump’s broader handling of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which has raged since Moscow’s invasion in February 2022. On the campaign trail last year, Trump repeatedly claimed he could end the war “in one day,” but instead courted controversy by publicly chastising Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, demanding mineral concessions from Kyiv, and deploying a negotiator widely criticized for openly admiring Putin.
He further referenced Trump’s first impeachment in 2020, which stemmed from an attempt to withhold military aid to Ukraine in exchange for political favors, suggesting that Trump’s favorable stance towards Putin may be driven by deeper concerns.
“I think I do know what hold Putin may have over Trump,” Shapps said. “But I mean, it is not right.”
He warned that Trump’s apparent appeasement of Putin could embolden other authoritarian leaders with expansionist ambitions.
“If you let one dictator get away with it, what do you think will happen when another dictator walks into a neighboring state?” he asked. “Do you think people will believe the West when we say ‘you can’t do that’?”
Shapps, who lost his parliamentary seat during Labor’s landslide victory last July, was recently knighted for his service. His comments add to a growing chorus of Western voices expressing concern over Trump’s influence on global democratic norms and security alliances.
The One Decision podcast, where the interview was aired, is co-hosted by prominent foreign policy figures including Sir Richard Dearlove, former MI6 chief, and Leon Panetta, a former US defense secretary and CIA director.
