All of Trump's brutal criticism of Keir Starmer as he steps down as UK Prime Minister
Topics: Donald Trump, UK News, Politics
Niamh Shackleton
Featured Image Credit: Isabel Infantes - WPA Pool/Getty Images
Topics: Donald Trump, UK News, Politics
If there's one thing that everyone knows about President Donald Trump it's that he rarely shies away from sharing his thoughts on someone – something Keir Starmer knows all too well.
Starmer announced today (June 22) that he is resigning as Britain's prime minister and leader of the Labour Party. He's the fourth PM to resign from the position in five years.
In a national address given Monday morning, Starmer said: "The question my party is asking now is whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general election.
"I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that question. And I accept that answer with good grace.
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"Every decision I've taken has been about putting the country I love first. That is why I will resign as leader of the Labour Party.
"I have spoken to His Majesty the King this morning to inform him of my decision."
Starmer will remain as prime minister until the conclusion of the Labour Party leadership election. It's expected that the UK will have a new prime minister by the end of the summer.
Donald Trump beat Starmer to the punch in announcing his resignation though, and announced yesterday that the Brit was stepping down.
"Keir Starmer will resign as prime minister of the United Kingdom," Trump wrote on Sunday. "He failed badly on two very important subjects - immigration and energy (Open North Sea oil!). I wish him well! President DJT."
Trump and Starmer's relationship has become strained over recent months and he's criticised the PM on numerous different things.
One thing Trump pressed Starmer about was energy (mentioned in his resignation announcement). He urged the prime minister repeatedly to further exploit the 'great asset' of North Sea oil and to 'drill baby, drill'.
But Starmer's government previously ruled out new oil and gas licences, focusing instead on renewables and new nuclear power stations.
Trump has long voiced his opposition to wind turbines, particularly those offshore, witnessed by his unsuccessful legal battle with the Scottish Government to stop a development visible from his Aberdeenshire golf course. It saw the president accuse Starmer of 'windmilling the country to death'.
Elsewhere, Trump waded into the row over Peter Mandelson and his appointment as US ambassador after it was revealed he had ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump said choosing Mandelson for the position was 'a really bad pick', but added the PM had 'plenty of time to recover'.
Greenland was another point of contention after the president renewed his threat to seize Greenland from NATO partner Denmark at the start of the year.
Tensions were further fuelled when Trump suggested NATO allied troops 'stayed a little off the front lines' in Afghanistan.
The president also claimed America had 'never needed' its NATO partners, despite being the only member state to have ever invoked the alliance’s 'all for one, and one for all' clause, in the wake of 9/11.
Starmer condemned his remarks about British troops in Afghanistan as 'insulting and frankly appalling' and paid tribute to the 457 UK personnel who died in the conflict and the many others injured.