President Donald Trump badly dishonored the United Kingdom with his recent gross disregard for British military sacrifices in Afghanistan. His threats to America’s NATO ally Denmark over its Greenland territory also weakened his standing even with the best U.S. allies. Still, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has a growing problem. Starmer is deeply unpopular with his people, increasingly unpopular with his own Labour Party, and has now badly alienated the U.K.’s closest ally.
In advance of U.S. military action against Iran, the Trump administration requested the use of military bases on U.K. territory. Starmer said no. His rationale: that this action might be unlawful under international law. As I noted on Monday, this isn’t the case.
After all, recent Iranian terrorist attacks and mass casualty attack plots on U.K. soil provide ample legal justification to allow the U.S. to use its U.K.-located bases for operations against Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets and missile/drone forces. But it was not until the Iranians launched drone attacks against a British military base on Cyprus that Starmer finally changed his mind on U.S. basing access. Even then, he’s only allowing the U.S. to use these bases for operations against Iranian drone/missile forces.
The Trump administration is understandably unhappy. As Trump put it to The Sun’s Harry Cole on Monday, “[Starmer] has not been helpful. I never thought I’d see that. I never thought I’d see that from the U.K.” As Trump (rightly) bestowed glowing tributes on German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House on Tuesday, he added that Starmer has “ruined relationships, it’s a shame.”
Starmer has also mishandled this crisis in another manner: by failing to protect U.K. interests. British fighter jets operating out of the Cyprus base have intercepted Iranian drone and missile attacks since the conflict began. Iran has also launched attempted attacks against that base. Nevertheless, it took until Tuesday for Starmer to authorize the deployment of an air defense destroyer to support these efforts (if no ships of the requisite Daring-Class were available due to maintenance issues, Starmer should explain why he has yet to authorize a necessary boost to defense spending). In contrast, France ordered its aircraft carrier to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea on Sunday. In addition, Starmer has rejected the idea of taking even limited retaliatory action against Iran over its attempted attacks on the Cyprus base.
The result of all this is that Starmer appears unable either to defend his country’s interests or to command the basic confidence of the Trump administration. This is a very poor position for any U.K. prime minister to be in.
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Yes, the nuts and bolts relationship of the U.S.-U.K. military and intelligence communities will consolidate the special relationship. But Starmer is now endangering that relationship in a manner unprecedented since Harold Wilson refused Lyndon Johnson’s request to send forces to fight in Vietnam.
Starmer may be bearing close heed to that Vietnam War concern, thus believing that he is doing the right thing. But if he’s wrong, the U.K.’s economy, foreign political influence, and long-term security interests may pay inordinately for his poor perception.