Keir Starmer has had to walk a tightrope since quick-to-anger Donald Trump returned to the White House. The latest flashpoint comes after Britain refused the 79-year-old’s demand to use its bases
Not for the first time, Donald Trump has left Keir Starmer between a rock and a hard place.
The unpredictable US President’s decision to rain down missiles on Iran – killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the weekend – has put the PM at the heart of yet another spiralling crisis. And once more the Special Relationship between Britain and the US is at a dangerous and significant moment.
For decades the two nations have stood side-by-side on the world stage, but this alliance has rarely looked so strained. At the weekend Trump came knocking, demanding use of British bases to launch attacks on Iran. Mr Starmer said no.
The bold decision incensed the 79-year-old US commander-in-chief, who ranted: “This was the most solid relationship of all. And now we have very strong relationships with other countries in Europe.”
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It is a big moment. In stark contrast to Tony Blair’s catastrophic failure 23 years ago, Mr Starmer has said Britain will not just go along with a US President hellbent on toppling despots without a clear plan. On Sunday Mr Starmer said he would allow the use of UK bases – but with a very imporant condition. The US is only permitted to launch defensive strikes to prevent attacks on its allies. The PM does not, he told MPs, believe in regime change from the skies – a very clear message to a US President trying to achieve exactly that. But he cannot allow British lives to be put at risk as missiles hurl across the region, and his decision followed an attack on RAF Akrotiri in Cyrpus. Mr Starmer has been walking a tightrope since Trump returned to the White House. One rash move could see the quick-to-anger President inflict economic misery in the form of tariffs, or try to humiliate a world leader who does not bow to his will. Mr Starmer has had to carefullysteer his way through a string of flashpoints – the threat of a Greenland invasion, the snatching of the Venezuelan president, his decision to roll out the red carpet to Vladimir Putin to mention just three. So the refusal to bow to his demand is a significant moment. Mr Starmer may have repeatedly had to bite his tongue, but this time Trump has tried to cross a red line. The former human rights lawyer, who could not be further in temprament from the American President, showed he will not be bullied into making quick – and potentially rash – decisions with so much at stake. He is painfully aware that Blair dragged the UK into a poorly-planned quagmire that cost 179 British lives. That will not happen again, Mr Starmer told MPs on Monday. Polling by YouGov showed most voters agree with his position. But with Trump’s closest UK ally, Nigel Farage, whining that the PM should be more accommodating to the world’s most powerful man, this latest spat has a long way to run. How damaging will it be in the long run? Well, Trump has form for backing down – Wall Street has coined the term TACO, meaning ‘Trump always chickens out’. But as we’ve learned since his return to power, nothing can be taken for granted.