Rebuke will do PM no harm with his party and opens up a politically perilous but potentially appealing path ahead
“Serious, calm, pragmatic, behind-the-scenes diplomacy” is how No 10 has been describing Keir Starmer’s approach to the chaotic world of Donald Trump’s administration.
That may have been how the week started – and tiptoeing around Trump’s volatility has been the hallmark of Starmer’s relationship with the president for a whole year. But the president’s two major digs at Britain, first over the Chagos Islands and then, more seriously, his claim that UK troops did not pull their weight in Afghanistan, have finally provoked Starmer into a furious rebuttal.
Starmer’s demand for an apology over the “insulting and frankly appalling” words from an unrepentant Trump marks the worst week for US-UK relations since the president took over last year.
With characteristic understatement, the prime minister said he had been “getting a bit exasperated” with Trump’s remarks about the UK – and appeared ready at last to draw a line in the sand about what is unacceptable to say about an ally.
