How tensions with Trump dominated Starmer’s premiership

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. …