Keir Starmer hit back at Donald Trump’s Nato rebuke yesterday, saying the alliance was ‘in America’s interest’ – but acknowledged that European allies must do more.
The Prime Minister’s comments come after the US President stepped up his threats to quit the bloc as tensions continued to grow over the Iran war.
Sir Keir said the defensive agreement had ‘kept us much safer than we would otherwise have been’.
But he conceded Europe needed to do more after Mr Trump’s complaints about defence spending and his clash with Nato secretary general Mark Rutte.
Following a call with the President, Sir Keir was asked whether he had raised Mr Trump’s threats to quit Nato.
‘It’s the single most effective military alliance the world has ever known,’ he replied. ‘Do we Europeans need to do more? Yes, I’ve been making that argument for the best part of two years, to our European partners as much as anybody else.’
He added: ‘It is in America’s interests, it’s in European interests. Nato is a defensive alliance, which for decades has kept us much safer than we would otherwise have been…
‘We’ll always be strong supporters of Nato. Do I think this will be a stronger European element to Nato? Yes, and I think we should step into that space.’
He also discussed the need for a ‘practical plan’ to get the Strait of Hormuz reopened to shipping in his telephone conversation with Mr Trump.
It comes after reports that Britain has been told by the Trump administration that it will be punished along with other Nato members for disappointing the President over the war in Iran.
Mr Trump has long threatened to withdraw from the alliance but his complaints have ratcheted up since the beginning of the war and what he sees as a lack of support from allies.
A number of European countries have refused to support the US strikes, including the UK, which has allowed its airbases to be used only for defensive purposes.
Sir Keir’s comments come after he said he was getting ‘fed up’ with bills increasing in the UK because of the actions of ‘Putin or Trump’.
He added that allies agreed there could be ‘no tolls or restrictions’ on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz as part of the ceasefire after suggestions Iran may start charging to use the waterway.
Sir Keir also thanked Pakistan’s prime minister for his ‘critical role’ in securing a two-week ceasefire in the Middle East, No 10 said.
Speaking at the end of his trip to the region, he also warned that the conflict would ‘define us for a generation’.
It came ahead of Tory leader Kemi Badenoch’s speech to the London Defence Conference today in which she is expected to say that Mr Trump’s comments have ‘dismayed’ her.
She is set to warn that Britain is no longer a major defence player and has instead ‘drifted into the role of commentator with little capacity’.
She is also expected to blame Sir Keir’s Government for being unprepared for the Iran war because it was ‘distracted by infighting and psychodrama’.
The speech will conclude with her urging the country to ‘wise up’ to global threats or risk becoming like Kyiv, under siege with Russian drones and missiles.
She also said she would be prepared to work with Sir Keir if he put forward a plan to increase defence spending.
