President Donald Trump roasted Britain as a “once great ally” on Saturday as he continued to express displeasure with the left-wing Labour government in London over its initial refusal to grant the U.S. use of its bases for the conflict in Iran.
After severely damaging the so-called “special relationship” between the United Kingdom and the United States — while being shown up by France in terms of swift military deployments — Prime Minister Starmer’s government is said to be preparing to demonstrate a show of force, with reports on Saturday indicating that it is preparing to send aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales for possible deployment to the Middle East.
However, this has apparently failed to impress President Donald Trump, who openly mocked Starmer for his Johnny-come-lately stance to the conflict after having initially refused to allow the United States to use UK bases for operations in Iran.
“The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East. That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer — But we will remember,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!” he added.
Former British Prime Minister Liz Truss agreed with Trump’s assessment, calling his comments “justified and damning.”
While Starmer later backtracked on his initial opposition to granting the U.S. access to British military bases — although still limited to “defensive” actions — it has done little to repair his relationship with the American leader.
Earlier this week, speaking to London’s Daily Telegraph, President Trump said that he was “very disappointed” with Starmer over the move, which he noted may have been the first time in the history of UK-U.S. relations that a prime minister refused a military request from Washington.
Trump noted that Starmer — a former human rights lawyer — made the decision because he was “worried about the legality.”
The President suggested that the niceties of international law should not outweigh the duty to British citizens, many of whom have been “blown up” by terrorists backed by Iran.
President Trump further mocked Starmer during an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, saying of the UK leader: “This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with”.
Although Starmer had initially attempted to break with his left-wing party and cosy up to the Trump administration, ties took a turn for the worse over the move by Starmer to cede control of the strategically significant Chagos Islands to the China-aligned East African nation of Mauritius, following a ruling from the International Court of Justice at the United Nations.
Trump has described the move, which throws into question the fate of the UK-U.S. military base on the island of Diego Garcia, as a “blight” on the reputation of Britain, and accused Starmer of bowing to “wokeism”.
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