CHEQUERS: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Thursday that Britain protects freedom of speech “jealously” and “fiercely” after US criticism and several cases have focused attention on British laws. “Free speech, it’s one of the founding values of the United Kingdom, and we protect it jealously and fiercely and always will,” Starmer told a press conference with US President Donald Trump at the end of a state visit to the UK.