The US president has labeled the UK prime minister \u201cno Winston Churchill\u201d after he refused to join the war on Iran<\/p>\n
Ties within Western blocs are becoming increasingly strained, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has admitted, after he sparred with US President Donald Trump over the Iran war on several occasions.
\nStarmer made the remarks at the European Political Community (EPC) summit in Yerevan, Armenia, on Monday, saying that \u201cthere is more tension in the alliances than there should be and it\u2019s very important that we therefore face up to this as a group of countries together.\u201d
\nWhile Starmer did not single out the reason for growing friction, the remarks come against the backdrop of a rapidly souring relationship with the White House. In early March, Trump declared that the US-UK \u201cspecial relationship\u201d was \u201cobviously not what it was\u201d and branded Starmer \u201cno Winston Churchill\u201d after London refused to join the US-led war on Iran.<\/p>\n
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Starmer, meanwhile, indicated that he was \u201cfed up\u201d with rising consumer and oil prices triggered in part by the Iran war.
\nTrump also fumed over Starmer\u2019s January trip to Beijing \u2013 the first such visit by a British prime minister in eight years, and which resulted in a series of trade agreements \u2013 with the US leader branding it \u201cvery dangerous.\u201d
\nDespite the apparent tensions, Starmer called on European partners to increase their military spending inside NATO, echoing an argument long made by Trump. \u201cI feel very strongly that the European countries now need to step up and do more on defense and security to have a stronger European element of NATO,\u201d he said, insisting that the UK continues to work \u201cvery closely with the US on all issues to do with defense and security.\u201d
\nStarmer also said it is in the UK\u2019s \u201cnational interest to be closer to Europe,\u201d while declining to comment on a Times report that the EU has demanded \u00a31 billion ($1.35 billion) a year in financial contributions in exchange for a wider trade deal.
\nThe report, however, triggered a backlash at home, with Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel accusing Starmer of \u201cunpicking Brexit and planning another undemocratic hit job on British taxpayers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The US president has labeled the UK prime minister \u201cno Winston Churchill\u201d after he refused to join the war on Iran Ties within Western blocs are becoming increasingly strained, UK…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t