Donald Trump has said he is “not happy” with the UK over its approach to the Iran conflict, declaring that Sir Keir Starmer is “not Winston Churchill”.
Speaking at the White House, the US president unleashed another rant about the UK, claiming Sir Keir had been “very uncooperative” and “ruined relationships” over Iran and the Chagos Islands.
The US president has hit out at Britain several times since the US launched strikes on Tehran, criticising Sir Keir for not immediately allowing the US to use British bases to attack Iran.
Speaking about support from European nations for US action in Iran, Mr Trump added: “I’m not happy with the UK either.”
Appearing to refer to the Diego Garcia base in the Chagos Islands, Mr Trump added: “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.”
The US president went on to express his disapproval at Britain’s deal to hand the Chagos Islands over to Mauritius, saying the UK has “ruined relationships” over the “stupid island”.
“Spain has been very uncooperative, and so has UK. Now the second one is shocking, but this is not the age of Churchill,” he said.
“I will say the UK has been very, very unco-operative with that stupid island that they have, that they gave away and took a 100-year lease; having to do with, perhaps, indigenous people claiming the island that never even saw the island before. What’s that all about?”
Last week, the deal was plunged into fresh chaos after a minister suggested his plan to cede sovereignty of the British territory had been paused after Mr Trump urged him to scrap it. The Foreign Office later claimed that the minister “misspoke” and rapidly issued a clarification saying that “there is no pause”.
Mr Trump added that he “loves” the UK, but criticised the government’s approach to energy and immigration as “horrible”.
The president repeated his calls for Sir Keir to open up the North Sea to drilling, telling reporters: “They’ve got windmills all over the place that are ruining the country, ruining the landscapes, ruining the beautiful fields.
“Open up the North Sea.”
Turning to speak about the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, Mr Trump called him an “incompetent guy”, and also claimed the UK has “Sharia courts adjudicating law”.
Earlier, Downing Street insisted the US is still a “staunch” ally after Mr Trump launched another broadside against Sir Keir over the Middle East war.
Mr Trump had claimed Sir Keir had “not been helpful” and called the transatlantic rift “very sad” in an interview with The Sun on Monday.
“This was the most solid relationship of all. And now we have very strong relationships with other countries in Europe,” he said.
“It’s not going to matter, but (Sir Keir) should have helped… he should have.
“I mean, France has been great. They’ve all been great. The UK has been much different from others.”
He had also told The Telegraph he was “very disappointed” in the Prime Minister, after the UK’s initial decision over the weekend.
