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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Peter Walker Senior political correspondent

UK not obliged to support every demand of ‘transactional’ US president, minister says

Keir Starmer and Donald Trump wave while standing together at Chequers
Starmer has worked hard to maintain good relations with Trump. Photograph: WPA/Getty Images

Donald Trump is a “very transactional” president, whose repeated demands on Iran must be seen in this context, one of Keir Starmer’s most senior ministers has said in an unusually blunt UK assessment of relations between the countries.

Asked about the US president’s threats of some sort of retaliation against allies who do not supply ships to try to free up the strait of Hormuz, Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, said the UK was not obliged to agree to every US request.

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