Donald Trump’s unhinged day as Iran homicide plotters ‘useless’ and Starmer shrugs off Churchill jibe
Keir Starmer insists Trump’s “no Churchill” jibe won’t cause permanent damage to the Special relationship – and Pete Hegseth made some wild claims about US strikes in Iran
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Keir Starmer today brushed off the kicking Donald Trump gave him last night – describing him as “no Churchill.”
The UK’s relationship with the US, he insisted did not mean “hanging on President Trump’s latest words.” Which is a fair point, although it’s possibly worth asking why it’s taken Starmer this long to wise up to this particular home truth. Some will argue that a cooling of the special relationship will have consequences, not least for Ukraine. But will it actually? Starmer has impressively cultivated his “Trump Whisperer” persona, and while he’s probably managed to walk Trump back from his worst impulses on a few occasions, that influence has been on the wane for a while. More of Trump’s approach to Russia dn Ukraine can be put down to Trump being influenced by the last person he spoke to than to Starmer working some kind of magic on him.
Still, kicking him right in the Churchills was uncalled for.
Meanwhile in Trumpworld
- Hegseth claims to have killed Iranians behind Trump murder plot
- But does he mean this one?
- Noem gets a roasting for shooting her puppy
- …and for refusing to apologise for calling Minnesota victims “terrorists”
- The midterms have only just kicked off and Republicans are already on the back foot
Here’s everything you need to know
1. Hegseth claims US killed Iranians behind Trump ‘assassination attempt’
Pete Hegseth, Trump’s “Secretary of War”, claimed at a press conference today that the US targeted and killed the leader of an Iranian unit that had plotted to kill the President.
He did not name the leader, or the unit, or give any detail about the plot.
But he made sure everyone – including, presumably, the President – was aware that he had ensured that he’d put them on the target list.
2. Wait, is this the plot he’s talking about?
While details on the plot were not forthcoming from Hegseth, there is a case of an alleged plot to kill Trump, allegedly backed by Iran, before a Federal court in New York this week.
The bizarre, bungling alleged plot involved a Pakistani man who a court heard mapped out the plot on the back of a cheap hotel napkin, before describing it to undercover FBI agents posing as hitmen in a strip club. It’s a wild story, read more about it below.
READ MORE: Inside bungled alleged plot to kill Donald Trump ‘backed by Iran’ and hatched in a strip club
3. Hegseth says US investigating claims of strike against Iranian girls’ school
Hegseth was asked about reports that a US strike hit a girls’ school in Iran on Saturday, killing civilians.
He said it was being investigated, but wouldn’t go further than that.
4. Noem refuses to apologise to families of protesters killed by ICE agents in Minnesota
Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security Secretary, was urged last night to apologise to the families of Alex Pritti and Renee Good, who were killed by ICE agents in Minnesota last month, for claiming they were “domestic terrorists”.
She declined to do so.
Urged to do so by Vermont Senator Peter Welch at a congressional hearing, Noem said: “I certainly offer my condolences to these families for their loss.”
But asked again if she would apologise for how she characterised the victims, she would only say: “I will continue every day get up and to work hard and to give everybody factual information…”
5. She also got roasted for killing a puppy
She also got a fairly comprehensive roasting from Senator Thomas Tillis, who threatened to bring Senate work to a halt if her office keeps stonewalling his requests for information about the DHS immigration crackdown in Charlotte, North Carolina.
He raged: “If I don’t get an answer that you’ve had a month to respond to, and the remaining ones … as of today, I’ll be informing leadership that I’m putting a hold on any en bloc nominations until I get a response, and in two weeks, if I don’t get a response, I’m going to deny quorum and markup in as many committees as I can until I get a response.”
He went on to take shots at her abilities as a farmer and dog owner, referring to an incident Noem described in her own book where she shot her dog dead.
“You decided to kill that dog because you had not invested the appropriate time in training it, and then you have the audacity to say it’s a leadership lesson.
“At that same lunch hour, you killed a goat and said it was behaving badly. You’re a farmer — you don’t castrate a goat, they behave badly. You should have done that before.”
6. Democrats get their Texas guy in Midterm primary – but Republican selection drags on
The 2026 midterm campaign kicked off properly last night with a string of high-profile primary elections to select candidates.
In Texas, republican Senator John Cornyn is facing a runoff vote against the state’s MAGA-backed attorney general, Ken Paxton.
The failure to select a clear winner last night means the primary will drag on for two and a half months more – with the two candidates continuing to splash donor cash on TV ads tearing strips off each other.
For Cornyn, the results keep alive his hopes of remaining in the Senate. But it’s still a sign of vulnerability that he couldn’t win the race outright.
Although Cornyn has expressed occasional skepticism of Trump, he has been a reliable ally to the president. Paxton, however, claimed he was more aligned with Trump’s MAGA movement, pulling away support that may have otherwise gone to Cornyn.
Trump has yet to endorse either candidate, but the results will raise pressure on him to pick a guy.
Meanwhile, Democrats chose state Rep. James Talarico over Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett to be their candidate for the Senate seat.
Talarico is seen as someone who can reach across traditional political divides – and could give Democrats their best chance of flipping Texas, and perhaps even the Senate, away from Trump’s Republicans.
