Hours after Sir Keir Starmer’s emotional resignation announcement in Downing Street, US President Donald Trump could not resist the opportunity to take one more pop at a British leader he again described as “not Winston Churchill”.
The presidential stealth attack took place in the Oval Office on Monday afternoon, with Trump initially describing Starmer as “a lovely man” and “sort of a friend of mine” – before quickly segueing into another dig at the Prime Minister for delaying American access to airbases in the UK at the beginning of the US and Israeli war on Iran.
“Starmer said ‘no’,” the President claimed. “Starmer said worse than no. He said ‘we’ll be there as soon as you win’ … Starmer wasn’t there. And you know what? The people of the UK did not like it that he wasn’t there.
“That was a bad move that hurt him badly.”
That extraordinary rewriting of history suggests the President has now persuaded himself that his decision to wage war on Iran was popular in Britain. In fact, by late March only 26 per cent of UK voters told pollsters they believed the conflict would have a positive impact, and Starmer’s decision not to back the war fully was based on Trump’s continuing inability to articulate any lawful basis for it.
Trump also rounded on other issues that he claims brought Starmer down, and again intimated that if only the British premier had taken his advice, he would not have found himself in a career-ending jam.
“I said you’re really messing up on energy. You have windmills all over the place. In the meantime, you have the North Sea oil and they won’t let anybody drill … they don’t want to do it for environmental purposes,” the President said, in comments reflecting his antipathy towards any efforts to combat climate change.
Arguing that Starmer’s “problems” consisted of “energy and immigration and crime”, Trump went on somewhat unconvincingly to “wish him well” as he prepares to depart No 10.
For Andy Burnham and any other prospective Labour Party leader, the President’s comments served to reinforce the Trump administration’s roadmap for Britain. At a time when the US government’s official National Security Strategy finds optimism only in “the growing influence of patriotic European parties”, Trump has already put the next prime minister on notice: seal the country’s borders and “drill baby, drill” are critical keys to success.
Also required is a willingness to snap to attention and join Trump in any future wars that he wants to wage. Anything less will ignite American opprobrium.
Burnham is largely a stranger in American circles, and especially in Washington. In Trump’s corridors of power, decisions about him will be quickly made, possibly before he even takes up residence in No 10.
On the face of it, Burnham does not look like Trump’s kind of man. His working-class roots on the left, a life that has not centred upon the acquisition of personal wealth and his desire to please could all be marks against him. A week after Trump declared King Louis XIV’s Versailles estate to be “the ultimate” fusion of wealth and power, the man known as “King of the North” is not cut from similar regal cloth.
Starmer’s experience proves that Trump scents weakness a mile off, and that constantly trying to flatter and humour the President is not an effective strategy for the long term. Even Burnham’s Northern accent may raise the President’s eyebrows. On numerous occasions, Trump has publicly admired the timbre of both Starmer and King Charles’s elocution. We are unlikely to hear similar things about the MP for Makerfield.
Keir Starmer’s experience proves that Trump scents weakness a mile off, and that constantly trying to flatter and humour the President is not an effective strategy for the long term (Photo: Getty)Burnham’s willingness to recommence drilling operations in the North Sea will secure Trump’s thumbs-up, even if the Treasury questions how rapidly any new oil or gas will ease the financial burdens of energy prices on British households. But satisfying the President on immigration is likely to be a far more complex task, and Nigel Farage’s Trump-style moniker of “Open Borders Burnham” may win rapid purchase within the White House.
Burnham’s affability is a potential asset in dealing with Trump. But it is also a possible weakness. Some of his former colleagues in government accuse him of finding it difficult to say “no” to people. As Starmer recently discovered over Iran, rejecting White House demands can rapidly spark Trump’s fury, but agreeing to them could have placed the UK in legal jeopardy over the conflict’s tactics and aims.
A Burnham administration might be wise to find space for Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, whose ties to whose ties to US Vice President JD Vance are a potentially valuable commodity. But Burnham will also have to decide how to handle the thorny issue of trade policy with Trump.
Currently, Starmer’s ally Varun Chandra serves as the UK’s Special Envoy to the US on Trade and Investment, working out of the British embassy in parallel with Ambassador Sir Christian Turner. Burnham may want to put one of his own trusted people into a senior position there with alacrity.
As Zohran Mamdani – the Democratic New York City Mayor – has proved, it is possible for figures from the left to forge positive working relationships with Trump. But Burnham’s biggest problem will be the same one that bedevilled Starmer: Trump favours Farage or Rupert Lowe for No 10 and will continue working overtime to try and bring that eventuality about.
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