President Donald Trump bashed Keir Starmer over his lack of cooperation in Operation Epic Fury, unfavorably contrasting him with another British prime minister, Winston Churchill.
Starmer apparently declined to allow U.S. heavy bombers to use the U.K.’s base in Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Speaking to reporters next to a visibly uncomfortable German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump voiced his displeasure with the recent behavior of the prime minister.
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“By the way, I’m not happy with the U.K. either,” Trump said. “That island that you read about, the lease, OK? He made it for whatever reason. He made a lease of the island. Somebody came and took it away from him, and it’s taken three, four days for us to work out where we can land there 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.”
Fox News host Sean Hannity made the exact same allusion the night before during his interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an interview Trump told his supporters to watch.
Starmer was not the only target of Trump’s wrath. At the same meeting, he said he was cutting off all dealings with Spain.
“And now, Spain actually said that we can’t use their bases, and that’s all right. … We could use their bases if we want,” he said. “We could just fly in and use it. Nobody’s going to tell us not to use it, but we don’t have to. But they were unfriendly.”
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“Spain has absolutely nothing we need, other than great people — they have great people,” Trump added.
Though the United Kingdom did not participate in Operation Epic Fury, it has begun publicly mulling a response, especially after Iran tried to attack its base in Cyprus.