(AFP) – President Donald Trump said the historical relationship between the United States and Britain is “not like it used to be,” amid a diplomatic bust-up over US-Israeli strikes on Iran. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer — who told parliament on Monday his government “does not believe in regime change from the skies” — has drawn Trump’s wrath by initially refusing to have any role in Washington’s war with Iran.
Starmer later agreed to a US request to use two British military bases for a “specific and limited defensive purpose.” However, the episode angered Trump, who told British daily newspaper The Sun: “This was the most solid relationship of all. And now we have very strong relationships with other countries in Europe,” singling out France and Germany. Starmer has cultivated a warm relationship with the unpredictable Trump, who was given an unprecedented second state visit to Britain last year.
The so-called special relationship between the World War II allies is largely built on long-standing defense cooperation and intelligence sharing. Any potential military action in the Middle East, however, is politically sensitive in the UK following former prime minister Tony Blair’s disastrous support for the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Trump’s comments came as UK media reported that the government was considering sending a warship to the Middle East. HMS Duncan could reportedly be the Type 45 destroyer sent to the region, having recently completed a training exercise on taking down drones.
Trump said Starmer had “not been helpful,” adding: “I never thought I’d see that. I never thought I’d see that from the UK. We love the UK.” “It’s just a much different kind of relationship… It’s very sad to see that the relationship is obviously not what it was,” he said in a telephone interview. Government minister Darren Jones defended Starmer’s decision to only get involved in military action where there was a “legal basis” and a “clear plan” that was in the UK’s own national interest. “That’s why we were not involved in the initial strikes in Iran,” he said.
He stated that two UK bases — one in Gloucestershire in western England and the UK-US base on Diego Garcia island in the Indian Ocean — had now been cleared for use by the Americans. “We all remember the mistakes of Iraq, and we have learned those lessons,” Starmer said in parliament on Monday. A British Royal Air Force (RAF) base in Cyprus was attacked early Monday by Iranian-made drones, one of which hit the runway, according to officials. The base was “not being used by US bombers,” Starmer said.
– ‘Not-so-special relationship’ – Asked about Trump’s criticism, Starmer’s spokesman said the UK and the US remained staunch allies. “That is reflected in decades of that special relationship, whether it’s on national security, on trade, or beyond,” the spokesman said. British politicians have been haunted by the 2003 Iraq war, in which a reported 179 UK soldiers died. An official UK inquiry into the conflict later found that Blair acted on flawed intelligence when deciding to join the war.
Evie Aspinall, director of the British Foreign Policy Group think tank, told AFP that Starmer faced a “very tight diplomatic tightrope” with the US, which “remains critical in the context of Ukraine and Greenland.” Richard Whitman, an expert on international relations at the University of Kent, added that Trump’s remarks might herald a “new, not-so-special relationship.” The worry for London was any “spillover” on Ukraine and the possibility of Trump getting a “bee in his bonnet” about the UK. “That would be clearly disastrous for the UK,” he said.
The situation might be salvaged with a “bold announcement on defense spending uplifts,” said Sophia Gaston, a foreign policy research fellow at King’s College London.
– Helen Rowe and Peter Hutchison
© 2024 AFP
