Starmer Issues His Strongest Rebuke Yet to Trump
UK PM Keir Starmer delivers his toughest rebuke yet after Trump’s Afghanistan remarks, defending British troops and NATO allies.
The Prime Minister has condemned Donald Trump's comments about the war in Afghanistan, in what is his strongest public criticism of the former president to date.
This comes in a week when circumstances have forced Sir Keir Starmer to conclude three times that it was necessary to publicly rebuke the man with whom he had worked so hard to cultivate a strong relationship.
I'm told that upon returning to Downing Street on Friday afternoon, Sir Keir felt it was essential to make his views clear in the bluntest possible terms.
His anger was evident in his tone and body language, as well as in his words, in which he said that what President Trump had said was "insulting and, frankly, appalling."
The former president had claimed that the NATO defence alliance, of which the UK is a member, had sent "some troops" to Afghanistan, but that they had stayed "a little bit back, a little bit away from the front lines."
These comments, which are factually incorrect, have been widely seen as crass and deeply offensive.
Four hundred and fifty-seven British service personnel died in the conflict, and many more suffered life-changing injuries.
The Prime Minister's team tells me that Sir Keir considers it a primary duty of his role to stand up for and defend the armed forces, given that those who are serving and those who died in the conflict cannot speak for themselves publicly.
Incidentally, this is not the first time the Prime Minister has felt the need to stand up for the British military following comments from the Trump administration.
Last March, Sir Keir deliberately paid tribute to UK troops in the Commons after US Vice President JD Vance was accused of disrespecting them.
But on that occasion, he did not name the Vice President.
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The Prime Minister's response to the former president marks the third time in five days that he has had to make a snap decision on how to balance a public response in defence of his core principles under attack from the White House. The first instance came on Monday morning, when he defended the sanctity of Greenland's sovereignty and appealed for "calm discussion." Within 24 hours, the president was making disparaging remarks about the government's deal on the Chagos Islands. Perhaps it's no surprise that when facing Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, Number 10 felt there was little risk in what he was about to say.
His language and tone hardened regarding the president's then-stated ambitions for Greenland, when he said the UK would not be swayed by pressure from Washington.
While the Prime Minister's interventions on Monday and Wednesday were viewed by officials through the lens of diplomacy and the potential reactions they might provoke, his comments on Friday were seen in a different light.
I'm told the decision was straightforward: the Prime Minister concluded that, given the president's egregious error, it was simply the right thing to do.
If Sir Keir has a chance to reflect on the past seven days over the weekend, you have to wonder if he will consider this a turning point in his relationship with President Trump.
It's a relationship he values and cherishes. Many have praised him for cultivating it, while others have criticized him for getting too close to a highly controversial president.
His argument has long been that a close relationship is in the national interest.
The question now is how common weeks like the past one might become if the president's habit of what many perceive as anger, insults, and provocation becomes entrenched.
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