Trump: Starmer is no Churchill

Donald Trump has attacked Sir Keir Starmer over his lack of support for the Iran war, saying he is “not Winston Churchill” and “ruins relationships”.

In his harshest rebuke of the Prime Minister yet, the United States president criticised him for initially blocking the use of Diego Garcia, the military base in the Chagos Islands, for military strikes.

The remarks from the Oval Office on Tuesday came after Mr Trump told The Telegraph he was “very disappointed” in Sir Keir and that his refusal was unlike anything that had “happened between our countries before”.

They reveal the increasingly fraught state of the special relationship, which has frayed after disagreements between the two leaders over free speech, trade and the use of air bases.

Sir Keir is facing pressure to increase Britain’s military presence in the conflict by dispatching an aircraft carrier to protect Cyprus from Iranian attack.

Last night, Emmanuel Macron branded US and Israeli strikes against Iran illegal, setting France on a collision course with Trump.

Iranian drones and missiles have targeted American assets and allies in the region, including the US embassy in Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, US and Israeli forces continued to strike the Iranian regime on Tuesday, raising the death toll to 800, while Israel sent ground troops into Lebanon following Hezbollah drone attacks.

US officials also sparked fears of civil war in Iran by saying Mr Trump was open to supporting militias that could wrest control from the regime.

Fears of an energy crisis caused by the conflict triggered stock market crashes around the world, with the FTSE plunging more than 3 per cent before closing down 2.75 per cent in its worst day since Mr Trump’s tariff onslaught last April.

Speaking during a meeting at the White House with Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, the US president said the UK had been “very, very uncooperative” over the use of the Chagos Islands.

He told reporters: “That island ... It’s taken three, four days for us to work out where we can land there, it would have been much more convenient landing there as opposed to flying many extra hours, so we are very surprised.

“This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.”

He added: “They ruin relationships. It’s a shame. And that country, the UK, and I love that country. I love it.”

The US president also vowed to “cut off” all trade between the US and Spain after it refused to allow its bases to be used in strikes on Iran.

It raises the prospect of similar action against other Western countries that refuse military cooperation, including the UK.

Mr Macron said the attacks were “outside the bounds of international law” in a televised statement on Tuesday.

However, he said Iran “bears primary responsibility” for the war because of its nuclear programme and support for armed groups across the Middle East.

In his brief speech from the Elysée, Mr Macron said that French Rafale fighter jets, air-defence systems, and airborne radar systems had been deployed in the Middle East. “And we will continue this effort as much as necessary,” he said.

Britain had denied the US permission to conduct strikes from RAF bases, citing international law, but Sir Keir relented on Sunday night and said he would allow the US to fly missions from the bases for “specific and limited defensive purposes”.

The dispute persuaded Mr Trump to withdraw his support for Britain’s controversial Chagos deal, in which the UK will relinquish ownership of the British Indian Ocean territory to Mauritius, but lease back its Diego Garcia military base.

Mr Trump went on to criticise Sir Keir over his “horrible” immigration and energy policies, urging the UK to remove “sharia courts” and “open up the North Sea” to oil and gas.

The Prime Minister has also been criticised for failing to protect RAF Akrotiri, a British base in Cyprus, after Iranian attack drones hit it, damaging the runway.

Sir Keir announced on Tuesday night that he would send HMS Dragon, a Type-45 destroyer, and Wildcat helicopters to defend the base.

The base is currently defended by British radar systems, air defence and F-35 jets, but there are no Royal Navy warships in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea around it.

France has sent the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier – the only non-American, nuclear-powered ship of its kind – to the region, alongside extra anti-drone defences, to protect Akrotiri.

Two former defence secretaries said that Britain’s firepower in the conflict with Iran did not match that of the US or France, and that Sir Keir should also send the Prince of Wales aircraft carrier.

The ship is currently preparing for a Nato deployment to the Arctic.

Sir Gavin Williamson, a former Conservative defence secretary, said: “The current pressure is not in the Arctic. The Government needs to be realistic and change its plans for this deployment. The threat is in the Gulf and in the Eastern Mediterranean, and we should be very rapidly redeploying forces to address that.”

Sir Grant Shapps, who was defence secretary under Rishi Sunak, said: “We should, of course, send the carrier. The idea that this country can sit out a war against arguably the most evil regime on the planet is completely bonkers.

“All of our British interests lie in a successful conclusion, and the failure to protect British servicemen and women is extremely concerning and should properly be the subject of parliamentary probing.”

Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, added: “We should send HMS Prince of Wales, but it will take two weeks to get there. In the meantime, the fact that the French are protecting an RAF base tells you everything you need to know: we are sinking to third-world status.”

HMS Prince of Wales is undergoing maintenance in Portsmouth but could be deployed relatively quickly. It would require an escort of other ships to form a carrier strike group, and fighter jets could join it later on its journey to Cyprus.

The Royal Navy’s second aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, is undergoing more major repairs and cannot be deployed.

The carriers, which cost £7.9bn and took nine years to build, have been criticised for their small number of deployments and “vanity” trips to visit allies.

However, Whitehall sources suggested that the mission to protect RAF Akrotiri would not be appropriate for an aircraft carrier, since Britain already has the base to launch fighter jets.

Sir Keir on Tuesday assured Nikos Christodoulides, the Cypriot president, of his “unwavering support for Cyprus and its security” and pledged support from HMS Dragon, “one of the most capable air defence warships in the world”.

But defence grandees said he should have dispatched the ship more quicklyand questioned his decision to wait until after France had already sent assistance before ordering it to deploy.

Lord Owen, the former Labour foreign secretary, said Sir Keir’s “refusal to join the great bulk of countries in the world, even some in Europe, is wrong”, adding that his “legal justifications are flawed”.

Admiral Lord West, the former head of the Navy, told The Telegraph: “This is a disgrace. We haven’t got a single warship in the Middle East apart from an old minehunter. I’ve never known anything like it.”

James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, said: “So far, the only decisive action this Prime Minister appears willing to take is to allow the United States to do the heavy lifting, while he carps from the sidelines.

“He’s floundering around, crippled by indecision and not even able to say if he backs US action or not. Our Armed Forces deserve far better”.

[Source: Daily Telegraph]