Trump Criticizes UK’s Starmer After Resignation Announcement
Washington: US President Donald Trump on Monday criticized outgoing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer after the Labor Party leader announced he would resign, saying he had “really hurt him” over his handling of energy, immigration and relations with Washington.
“I think he’s a lovely guy,” Trump told reporters at an event in the Oval Office, accusing Starmer of mishandling Britain’s energy policy by not using North Sea oil and allowing “windmills everywhere.”
“The United Kingdom buys most of its energy. Do you know where? Norway. Do you know where they get their oil from? The North Sea,” Trump said. “The UK has a much better part of the North Sea; they don’t want to do that for environmental purposes.”
Trump, who predicted Starmer’s departure in his Truth Social post, said that the British leader was “sort of a friend of mine” but did not provide enough support to the USA on NATO and the Iran war.
As leaders clashed over the use of British military bases in Cyprus to launch attacks on Iran, the US leader expressed disappointment that it had taken so long for Britain to approve a US request to use RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus to bomb Iranian targets.
“He said we couldn’t use the island to land. That was a first,” Trump said, adding that Starmer eventually gave in but it was “a bad move” and “hurt him bad.”
“I wish him good luck,” Trump said. “But he’s got two problems: energy and immigration – and crime. But energy and immigration. He’s really, really hurt himself.”
Starmer announced on Monday that he would step down as leader of the Labor Party but remain prime minister during an orderly transition, following months of pressure from party MPs and the collapse of local authority following poor local and regional election results.
Veteran Labor politician Andy Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester, is expected to replace him upon his return to Parliament, possibly making him Britain’s seventh prime minister in a decade.
