Sir Keir Starmer has admitted Britain’s relationship with the United States has been badly damaged by the Iran war and other recent conflicts.
The Prime Minister has been ridiculed repeatedly by Donald Trump in recent months over Britain’s refusal to support the US.
While President Trump has also fallen out with other European leaders, most notably Friedrich Merz, Emmanual Macron and Georgia Meloni.
For the first time, rows over Iran and trade are damaging European security – as the US has decided to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany.
The move prompted Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to question whether the US would honour its Article 5 commitment to defend other NATO states.
Speaking at a meeting of the European Political Community (EPC) in Yerevan, Armenia, Sir Keir said: ‘There is more tension in the alliances than there should be.
‘Therefore it is very important we face up to this as a group of countries together. Some of the alliances that we have come to rely on are not in the place we want them to be.’
Sir Keir’s remarks represented a rare acknowledgement on the Prime Minister’s part of how the UK and US have drifted apart.
The UK’s European allies are facing the same difficulties with President Trump’s administration.
In recent days a dramatic fallout between Trump and the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz resulted in the US Department of War saying it will pull out 5,000 troops.
The US is also cancelling a pre-existing agreement to position long-range cruise missiles capable of striking Moscow in Germany.
The announcements came after Chancellor Merz enraged Trump by suggesting Iran was ‘humiliating’ the US by blockading the Strait of Hormuz.
That came after the US increased its import tariffs on European carmakers, including Germany’s BMW, Mercedes and Volkswagen.
While last week a US government internal memo suggested seeking Spain’s suspension from NATO over its opposition to the war in Iran.
The US cannot act unilaterally to remove Spain from NATO as the move would require unanimous approval from member states.
But it reflected the US’s anger towards Spain, which withheld basing rights from the US in opposition to the war. So too did France and Italy, leading to disputes with those states.
Smaller European member states have also been left exposed by the US’s attacks on Iran.
Estonia has been told by the US it must wait for deliveries of missiles because US stockpiles are so low.
The EPC event included confirmation of a £77 billion loan to Ukraine, made possible after Hungary lifted its veto – following pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s election defeat.
Getting his excuses in early, Sir Keir also predicted the damage to the UK economy caused by the conflicts in Ukraine and Iran would cost Labour votes in the local elections.
He said the impact of the wars would ‘play out with our electorates in all of our countries’.
Sir Keir said: ‘We are facing a war on two fronts, the Ukraine war which is in its fifth year and the Iran conflict. Both of those are impacting every single household in the UK.
‘We can see that already in relation to the impact on energy. So it is vital we work with international leaders on both fronts.’
Regarding the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz he added: ‘We are working with European and other leaders on that’. Strangely, perhaps, Sir Keir did not mention the US.
NATO members may be required to shop elsewhere for as long as US missile stockpiles remain low.
Sir Keir said that there ‘needs to be a stronger European element to NATO’ and admitted defence spending had ‘gotten behind over many years’.
The long-range missiles from the US’s 2nd Multi-Domain Task Force previously expected to arrive in Germany could be redeployed to the Pacific.
Trump’s Vice-President JD Vance and War Secretary Pete Hegseth are also staunch critics of Europe and Britain’s record on defence spending.
Their remarks about the US’s NATO partners being ‘freeloaders’, made on a recent group-chat, emerged last week.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also attended the meeting in Armenia.
They agreed on the need to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, to restore freedom of navigation and the free flow of global trade.
While Sir Keir assured President Zelensky the UK was ‘ready to do the necessary work’ to give the country what it needs to achieve ‘a just and lasting peace that was right for Ukraine’.
