How tensions with Trump dominated Starmer’s premiership

Trump and Starmer clashed on many issues after the president crash-landed in the White House. Photograph: Leon Neal/Reuters View image in fullscreen Trump and Starmer clashed on many issues after the president crash-landed in the White House. Photograph: Leon Neal/Reuters Analysis How tensions with Trump dominated Starmer’s premiership Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor Analysts say foreign policy was an ‘area of relative strength’ for the prime minister – but goodwill with the White House soon evaporated Keir Starmer inherited two wars and a country disconnected from the EU when he arrived in Downing Street – and that was before Donald Trump crash-landed at the White House and undermined the foundations of the UK’s most important alliance. It was a context that would have tested any prime minister, though in many respects Starmer negotiated it carefully. But longer-term questions of Britain’s security remain unresolved, and the UK’s place in the world is less certain. “I wouldn’t be the first person to say that Starmer would be a great diplomat,” said Olivia O’Sullivan, a foreign policy expert at Chatham House. “But what we’ve seen is that the US is not prepared to play such a decisive role in European defence and security – and it’s not clear if enough action has been taken in the light of that.” Though the ageing Joe Biden and Starmer overlapped for six months, it was the relationship with Trump that was dominant. At first, the Labour prime minister appeared to have struck an unlikely rapport with the Republican. It was helped by Starmer publicly handing over an invitation to Trump from King Charles for a second state visit when he came to the Oval Office in February 2025. “This is unprecedented,” Starmer gushed, and Trump accepted there and then. 1:25 Starmer gives Trump invitation from King Charles for UK state visit – video The ensuing state visit last September, with Trump kept tactfully out of London , saw the US president mute a disagreement with Starmer over Palestinian statehood – and the two seemed largely in agreement in condemning Russia over Ukraine. It was a moment of relative harmony. Trump began his presidency dramatically favouring Russia, lambasting Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. European leaders were left aghast at the possibility of Kyiv being abandoned. On his way back from Washington, Zelenskyy was due in London for a European summit. But he was also flown by helicopter to visit the king at Sandringham in Norfolk. The short trip, approved by Starmer following a Ukrainian request, visibly demonstrated British support for Kyiv at a critical moment. When Zelenskyy visited the Oval Office again, in August, Starmer was one of several European leaders who flew in alongside him. It was just days after Trump had met Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Alaska, and the US president had appeared convinced that Ukraine needed to be told to give up territory to end the war quickly. 2:40 EU leaders present unite