Starmer: Trump criticism is to pressure me on Iran but I won’t buckle

Sir Keir Starmer has suggested Donald Trump’s criticism of him is an attempt to push him to change his stance on the Iran war but vowed not to “buckle” under the pressure.

The Prime Minister said he had “core values and principles” that were “irreducible” and would not waver on his insistence that Britain will not be dragged into the “wider” conflict beyond defensive action.

It comes after the US President launched a fresh tirade against the UK for the extent of its involvement in the Middle East, saying Sir Keir made “a big mistake” and denigrating British warships as “toys”.

Asked whether Mr Trump’s repeated attacks had made him bristle, the Prime Minister told Sky News’ Electoral Dysfunction podcast: “I think I understand what’s happening, it’s to put pressure on me in different ways.

“But, that pressure isn’t going to make me waver. It’s not going to make me abandon my principles or values, and that’s just the way I am.

“That is not new. That isn’t because of President Trump. I’ve got core values and principles I’ve held all my life, and they’re irreducible.”

He acknowledged there was “a clear difference of opinion” between himself and the president and that there had been “hard decisions” over recent weeks, but insisted he still wanted a “good relationship”.

“My own view is that a lot of what is said and done has been to put pressure on me to change my mind, but I’m not going to do so, because I’m the British Prime Minister and I have to act in the British national interest, and I will always act in the British national interest,” Sir Keir said.

Speaking at a televised White House Cabinet meeting earlier on Thursday, Mr Trump lashed out again at Nato for doing “absolutely nothing” to help the US in the Middle East conflict.

And he took aim at the UK’s aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.

He said: “Now they all want to help. When they’re annihilated, the other side is annihilated, they said, ‘we’d love to send ships’…

“We had the UK say that ‘we’ll send’ – this is three weeks ago – ‘we’ll send our aircraft carriers’, which aren’t the best aircraft carriers, by the way. They’re toys compared to what we have.”

Meanwhile, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth suggested that Iran has the capability to strike London and insisted the president “knows better” than others about the threat posed by Tehran.

Earlier, his British counterpart, John Healey, refused to say if Iran was able to hit the UK, but said military chiefs did not believe the country had any plans to do so.

Asked whether he was angered by the US President’s action as the war jeopardises his promise earlier this year to ease the cost of living for Britons, Sir Keir said: “Of course, there’s a frustration there.”

Asked whether he sometimes privately swore to himself about it, he said: “Well, occasionally. I keep my expletives to myself most of the time. Although I don’t think that’s even safe all the time.

“But look, I think if you’re the British Prime Minister, it’s really important that we approach this with our interests in mind and asking the question, how do we come out of this better, what are the conditions when we went in, how do we come out of this better? And, these are the challenges of our time.”