Outgoing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Donald Trump (right)
US President Donald Trump targeted outgoing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday, saying that the Labor leader’s policies on energy, immigration and relations with Washington contributed to his downfall.Speaking to reporters during an event in the Oval Office, Trump struck a friendly tone before launching into sharp criticism of Starmer’s record.“I think he’s a lovely man,” Trump said, before accusing the British leader of wasting the UK’s energy potential by failing to fully exploit the North Sea’s oil reserves and allowing “windmills everywhere.”
Trump said: “The UK buys a lot of energy. Do you know where? Norway. Do you know where they get their oil? The North Sea.”
“The UK has a much better part of the North Sea – and they don’t want to do that for environmental purposes.”Trump, who had previously predicted Starmer’s departure in a post on Truth Social, said the Labor leader was “kind of a friend of mine” but suggested he had not done enough to support the US on key geopolitical issues, including NATO and the Iran-related conflict.Trump revealed that one point of contention was Britain’s initial reluctance to approve the use of RAF Akrotiri, a British military base in Cyprus, to launch US strikes on Iranian targets.
The two leaders reportedly clashed over the issue, with Trump expressing frustration with the delay.“He said we couldn’t use the island to land. That was a first,” the MAGA boss said, adding that Starmer eventually relented but that it was a “bad move” that “hurt him badly.”As Starmer prepares to step down as leader of the Labor Party, Trump said that the British Prime Minister’s “biggest political weaknesses were clear.”“I wish him well,” Trump said. “But it has two problems: energy and immigration – and crime.
But energy and migration. “He hurt himself very badly.”Starmer announced on Monday that he would resign as Labor leader while remaining prime minister during a managed transition period, after months of mounting pressure from within his own party and a series of disappointing election results that have weakened his authority.Attention now turns to Labor veteran Andy Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester, who is widely seen as the front-runner to replace Starmer. If chosen, Burnham will become Britain’s seventh Prime Minister in just one decade.
