Tom Tugendhat tells LBC he is 'very cautious' about the 'ramping up' of potential US actions towards Greenland
The former Security Minister said it was now up to the political leaders to find ways of a resolution
Former Security Minister Tom Tugendhat has told LBC that he is "very, very cautious about the way some people are ramping up" Donald Trump's threats towards Greenland.
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The Conservative MP conceded that the US Government had done some "deeply unhelpful" things, but acknowledged under their own treaties, they can base "anything they like, anywhere they like."
He joined LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr, 24 hours after Jeremy Hunt appeared on the same show, where he said that if Mr Trump makes good on his plans to annex Greenland, it could spell the end of NATO.
But when asked of he agreed with the former Foreign Secretary, Mr Tugendhat told Andrew: "I very much hope not, and I'm very, very cautious about the way some people are ramping this up to say that it's a NATO-defining factor.
"The purpose of NATO has always been to keep the Germans down, the Russians out, and the Americans in, as Ismay put it in the 1940s.
"If we're going to fracture over this that that would be extremely pleasing to Beijing and Moscow and extremely worrying to many people in Europe and Canada and the United States."
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He added: "The job of our political leaders now is not to make this more fractious, but to find ways of resolving it.
"There are things that the American government has been doing that are deeply unhelpful, but I think what we need to be doing is remind the Americans that under their own existing treaties, they can base anything they like, anywhere they like, and why don't they just do what they're allowed to do?"
Mr Trump previously hinted the US military could takeover Greenland, insisting that it would be vital for his country's national security.
On Tuesday evening, the Whitehouse released a statement saying the President and his team are "discussing a range of methods for acquiring Greenland."
Commenting on the Trump's statement that he wants the nation to be part of the US, Mr Tugendhat said: "If he did want it to be then he's got a relatively easy way of doing it, which is, he should engage in a conversation with the Greenlanders, probably offer them a significant amount of money.
"I don't know how much they would want, and offer them protectorate or some sort of territorial status or maybe even statehood, but that doesn't seem to be how he is going about it.
"So, I think at the moment, what we're seeing is quite a lot of signalling to the US base, if I'm honest, rather more than genuine regime change in Greenland, so let's wait and see."