Keir Starmer has said he is “fed up” with the effect that Donald Trump’s actions in the Middle East are having on the British public, while appearing to draw a comparison between the US president and Vladimir Putin.
Speaking to ITV’s Robert Peston on Thursday, the prime minister said: “I’m fed up with the fact that families across the country see their bills go up and down on energy, businesses’ bills go up and down on energy because of the actions of Putin or Trump across the world.”
Starmer, who has been heavily criticised, and at times mocked, by Trump for not committing British forces to the war on Iran, also appeared to condemn Benjamin Netanyahu for Israel’s continued strikes on Lebanon, despite Iran calling for Lebanon to be included in the ceasefire that was agreed on 7 April.
“That should stop – that’s my strong view – and therefore, the question isn’t a technical one of whether it’s a breach of the agreement or not,” Starmer said.
Starmer and Trump spoke on Thursday about the need for a “practical plan” to get shipping going through the strait of Hormuz after the Middle East ceasefire.
A Downing Street spokesperson said: “The prime minister spoke to President Trump from Qatar this evening. The prime minister set out his discussions with Gulf leaders and military planners in the region on the need to restore freedom of navigation in the strait of Hormuz, as well as the UK’s efforts to convene partners to agree a viable plan.
“They agreed that now there is a ceasefire in place and agreement to open the strait, we are at the next stage of finding a resolution. The leaders discussed the need for a practical plan to get shipping moving again as quickly as possible.”
Starmer also said on ITV that although Britain did not have “access to all the details of the ceasefire”, he disagreed with the attacks on Lebanon: “Let me be really clear about it: they’re wrong.”
Writing in the Guardian on Thursday, Starmer said he wanted Britain to be “a country where people are not at the mercy of events abroad”. He added that while the responses of previous governments to world events were to simply “manage the crisis, find a sticking plaster and then desperately try to reassert the status quo”, he promised his government would do better. “This time, it will be different. The war in Iran must now become a line in the sand, because how we emerge from this crisis will define all of us for a generation.”
The prime minister’s relationship with Britain’s allies has been noticeably strained since the US and Israel’s war with Iran began in late February. Starmer and other European leaders have been repeatedly chastised and belittled by Trump and other prominent members of his administration.
These have included Trump sharing a video from the sketch show SNL UK in which Starmer is portrayed as being scared of the US president and trying to avoid his call, and stating that he is “no Winston Churchill”.
Others on the receiving end of Trump’s ire include the French president, Emmanual Macron. Trump claimed Macron’s “wife treats him extremely badly” and even suggested that she hits him, claiming that Macron was “still recovering from the right to the jaw” when he spoke to him earlier in the month.
The Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, who has been outspoken in his disapproval of the wars in Iran and Gaza, has been one of Trump’s most vocal detractors. In response, the president has threatened to cut off all trade and suggested that if the US wanted to use Spain’s bases in the region, they would take them by force, stating: “If we want, we can just fly in and use it. Nobody is going to tell us not to use it.”
