Starmer says he is ‘fed up’ with Trump and Putin’s impact on UK energy costs | Politics
Keir Starmer appeared to liken the US president to Vladimir Putin as he said he was “fed up” with the impact Donald Trump’s actions in the Middle East were having on British public opinion.
Speaking to ITV’s Robert Peston on Thursday, the prime minister said: “I’m fed up with families’ energy bills going up and down, business energy bills going up and down across the country, because of the actions of Putin or Trump around the world.”
Starmer, who has been heavily criticized and even mocked at times by Trump for not committing British forces to the war against Iran, also appeared to condemn Benjamin Netanyahu for Israel’s continued attacks on Lebanon, despite Iran calling for Lebanon to be included in the ceasefire agreed on April 7.
“This must end – that is my strong view – and so the question is not a technical question of whether this is a breach of the agreement,” Starmer said.
It came as Starmer and Trump spoke on Thursday about the need for a “practical plan” for ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz after a ceasefire in the Middle East.
A Downing Street spokesman said: “The Prime Minister spoke to President Trump from Qatar this evening. “The Prime Minister held discussions with Gulf leaders and military planners in the region about the need to restore freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, as well as the UK’s efforts to bring partners together to agree a workable plan.
“They agreed that now that the ceasefire is in place and an agreement has been reached to open the strait, we are in the next phase of finding a solution. The leaders discussed the need for a practical plan to get shipping moving again as quickly as possible.”
Starmer also stated that although the UK does not have “access to all the details of the ceasefire”, it is against attacks on Lebanon and said: “Let me be very clear on this, they are wrong.”
Writing in the Guardian on Thursday, Starmer said he did not want Britain to become “a country where people are not at the mercy of events abroad”. He added that previous governments’ response to world events was simply to “manage the crisis, find a sticking plaster and then try desperately to reassert the status quo”, promising his government would do better, saying: “This time it will be different. The war in Iran must now become a line in the sand, because how we emerge from this crisis will define us all for a generation.”
The Prime Minister’s relations with Britain’s allies have become visibly strained since the US and Israel’s war with Iran began in late February; Starmer and other European leaders have been repeatedly berated and belittled by Trump and other prominent members of his administration.
These include sharing a video from the SNL UK sketch show depicting Starmer being afraid of Trump and trying to evade his call, and stating that he is “no Winston Churchill” due to his perceived inaction on helping the US.
Among those exposed to Trump’s anger is French President Emmanual Macron. Trump claimed that Macron’s “wife treated him extremely badly” and even alleged that Macron had hit him, claiming that Macron’s “right side down to the chin was still healing” when he spoke to him earlier in the month.
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez, who has publicly disapproved of the war in Iran and the conflict in Gaza, has been one of Trump’s biggest critics. In response, the president threatened to cut off all trade and suggested that if the United States wanted to use Spain’s bases in the region, it would take them by force, saying: “We can fly in and use them if we want to. Nobody can tell us not to use them.”
