LONDON: US President Donald Trump has lashed out at UK PM Keir Starmer over Iran saying he is "not happy" with the UK and saying of the British Prime Minister "This is not Winston Churchill that we are dealing with."
Referring to Starmer's delayed response in giving the US permission to use Diego Garcia to attack Iranian missile sites, Trump said at the White House on Wednesday: "It's taken three, four days, for us to work out where we can land there; it would have been much more convenient landing there as opposed to flying many extra hours, so we are very surprised."
He continued, "This is not the age of Churchill. I will say the UK has been very, very uncooperative with that stupid island that they have, that they gave away... having to do with, perhaps, indigenous people claiming the island that never even saw the island before. What's that all about? They ruin relationships. It's a shame."
Britain had denied the US permission to conduct strikes from its bases, on Saturday, citing international law.
Hindus for Labour issued a statement strongly rejecting Trump's brutal attack on the Prime Minister saying Starmer must act according to rule of law, democratic institutions and parliamentary scrutiny. The group said that if Trump wants Starmer to emulate Churchill, then it is reasonable to expect Trump to demonstrate the constitutional restraint of Franklin D. Roosevelt who would not have gone to war in Iran without approval of Congress.
In the House of Commons Starmer appeared to rebuke Trump by saying "this govt do not believe in regime change from the skies" telling MPs that military action must have a lawful basis and "a viable and "thought-through plan".
Asked at PMQ's whether his "dithering" had made the US-UK special relationship "stronger or weaker", Starmer replied, "The American planes are operating out of British bases. British jets are shooting down drones and missiles to protect American lives in the Middle East on our joint bases. That is the special relationship in action. Hanging on to Trump's latest words is not."
