Donald Trump and Sir Keir Starmer today held crisis talks over the ‘special relationship’ amid a rift unseen in decades sparked by the war with Iran.
The two leaders spoke this afternoon, for the first time since the fighting began, after a weekend in which the US president and the Labour administration traded barbs over the UK’s refusal to join the fighting.
In an astonishing outburst late on Saturday, Trump hit out at Starmer for agreeing defensive assistance only as Washington attacks Tehran alongside Israel.
He used his Truth Social social media platform to warn the US will ‘remember’ the lack of support from ‘our once great ally’ and suggested the PM was attempting to join a war after it had already been won.
In response, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper this morning hit back saying ‘diplomacy through social media isn’t our style’ and said it was not in the UK’s interests to be ‘outsourcing our foreign policy’.
The UK government has not joined the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, which began last weekend, with the PM saying last week he does not believe in ‘regime change from the skies’.
But it has accepted a request from the States to use its military bases for the ‘specific and limited defensive purpose’ of destroying Iran’s missiles ‘at source’.
This afternoon No10 said the two leaders discussed ‘the military cooperation between the UK and US through the use of RAF bases in support of the collective self-defence of partners in the region’.
Appearing on Sky News today Ms Cooper defended Sir Keir for refusing to join offensive action, saying it was not ‘in the UK’s national interest’ to attack Iran.
Asked about the Trump attack, she said: ‘Keir Starmer’s style of doing politics is obviously very different, and I think that kind of calm, cool-headed approach to these big, serious, international issues… I really think that is right.
‘And we’re not going to do things in terms of the rhetoric or hyperbole, we’re going to do things on really practical, calm, steady decision-making. Because I think that is actually the British character more widely… to do things in a serious and steady way.’
She also lashed out at former Labour PM Tony Blair, who criticised Sir Keir for not lining up alongside the US like he did in Iraq at an event in London.
‘I think the point is to make sure that, actually, we learn the lessons from some of the things that went wrong in Iraq, and I think that is exactly what Keir Starmer has done,’ she said.
A spokeswoman for Sir Tony said that his comments had been made at a private event and were not intended to be publicised.
Trump last night told Sir Keir Starmer he does not need the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers in a new blow to the so-called Special Relationship.
He posted on his Truth Social platform: ‘The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East.
‘That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer – But we will remember. We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!’
It comes after it was revealed on Saturday the Royal Navy is preparing one of its two aircraft carriers for potential deployment to the Middle East.
The readiness of HMS Prince of Wales is being increased – with its crew warned they should be prepared to sail in five days.
Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon is also due to set sail next week.
Sir Tony rebuked Keir Starmer for his lack of support for Donald Trump’s war on Iran, telling an event on Friday: ‘We should have backed America from the very beginning’.
Amid mounting diplomatic tensions between London and Washington over the conflict, Sir Tony warned his successor as Labour leader: ‘If they are your ally and they are an indispensable cornerstone for your security… you had better show up.’
Sir Tony’s criticism of Sir Keir, at an event hosted by Jewish News on Friday, is likely to provoke anger in a Labour Party still scarred by his decision to join the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 on the false grounds that Saddam Hussein possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).
The former Prime Minister’s dramatic intervention comes after President Trump described Sir Keir as ‘not Winston Churchill’ for initially denying him permission to launch strikes on Iran from UK territory, including the joint-US base on Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands.
After Sir Keir relented, saying he would allow the US to fly missions for ‘specific and limited defensive purposes’, Trump said that he had been ‘very disappointed’ by his British counterpart.
Sir Keir justified his initial refusal to back Trump on the grounds that he did not believe in ‘regime change from the skies’. The arguments were based on international law, but were driven by political calculations about the lack of an appetite in his Cabinet for emulating Sir Tony’s unquestioning support for American military action.
