Starmer says he is ‘fed up’ with Trump

PM compares US president to Putin and states he is unhappy about impact of Iran war on British families Telegraph 10/04/26 Sir Keir Starmer said he was “fed up” with Donald Trump and appeared to compare him to Vladimir Putin.

During a trip to the Gulf, the Prime Minister stated that he was unhappy with the impact of the Iran war on the domestic cost of living. Sir Keir told ITV’s Robert Peston: “I’m fed up with the fact that families across the country see their bills go up and down on energy, businesses’ bills go up and down on energy because of the actions of Putin or Trump across the world.” He also split with the US president over Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, saying the strikes “shouldn’t be happening”. “That should stop – that’s my strong view – and therefore, the question isn’t a technical one of whether it’s a breach of the agreement or not,” Sir Keir said. “We haven’t all got access to all the details of the ceasefire.” He then added: “Let me be really clear about it – they’re wrong.” Both Mr Trump and Israel insist the ceasefire agreement does not cover Lebanon, but Iran says it does. The Prime Minister’s comments are likely to further damage the strained relationship between the US president and Nato. Mr Trump has expressed anger at a perceived lack of support from allies after the US and Israel began bombing Iran six weeks ago. Sir Keir has faced repeated attacks from Mr Trump after refusing to join his war and initially denying the US permission to conduct strikes from British military bases, including Diego Garcia, in the Chagos Islands. He later allowed access for “specific and limited defensive purposes”. Mr Trump has said Sir Keir is “not Winston Churchill” and has reportedly started calling the Prime Minister a “loser”. Other Nato members, including Italy and Spain, refused to let US bombers use their bases for offensive strikes on Iran, and rebuffed pressure from Mr Trump to help unblock the Strait of Hormuz. On Wednesday, the president discussed leaving Nato with Mark Rutte, the alliance’s secretary general, in the White House. After the meeting, Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform: “NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON’T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN. REMEMBER GREENLAND, THAT BIG, POORLY RUN, PIECE OF ICE!!! President DJT.” Mr Trump demanded that Nato allies send warships to the strait in a matter of days. Tehran sealed the waterway off in retaliation for him launching his war on Feb 28. The president also accused Iran of breaching the terms of their two-week ceasefire agreement by doing a “very poor job” of allowing oil through the strait. Iran agreed to reopen the strategic 104-mile waterway after the truce was announced on Tuesday. However, just 10 ships have passed through since the ceasefire took effect, according to maritime tracking data, none of which were oil tankers. “Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonourable some would say, of allowing oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz,” Mr Trump said on Truth Social on Thursday evening, prompting concerns that the ceasefire was on shaky ground. “That is not the agreement we have!” On Thursday morning, Yvette Cooper, the Foreign Secretary, told Times Radio that the UK had taken a “different” view from Washington on the war. She also condemned Mr Trump’s “completely wrong” rhetoric. He had previously threatened to wipe out Iranian civilisation and bomb it back to the “Stone Age” by targeting civilian infrastructure. However, Ms Cooper stressed the US-UK relationship remained a “deep, long-standing one”. She added: “We have, I think, a really important security partnership, a really important economic partnership, and that continues.” British sources said the UK would be willing to deploy the military to the strait once a permanent ceasefire between the US and Iran had been agreed. However, there is concern that the fragile two-week ceasefire is unlikely to provide enough time to secure a permanent end to hostilities.