Former Labour Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has issued a stark warning that Prime Minister Keir Starmer is confronting a fresh and serious diplomatic challenge from the United States. The trigger is President Donald Trump's recent decision to withdraw the US from 66 international agencies, a move Straw argues has received surprisingly scant media attention but carries profound implications.
A Stark Warning on Trump's 'Isolationist' Agenda
Drawing on his own experience as Foreign Secretary in the turbulent period after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, Straw contrasts the current administration's approach with that of President George W. Bush. He notes that despite challenges, the Blair government successfully persuaded Bush to work through the United Nations to build support for actions in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"We sometimes thought that we had our difficulties in handling the Bush administration, but they were as nothing compared with the intense challenge of dealing with the Donald," Straw writes. He is quick to defend Starmer's handling of the Trump presidency so far, stating the Prime Minister has "done brilliantly" and that no other UK political figure could have managed better.
The Scale of the US Withdrawal
The core of the new challenge, according to Straw, is Trump's announcement to pull out of dozens of multilateral bodies deemed "contrary to US national interests." The list includes pivotal UN organisations such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, UN Women, the UN Population Fund, and the UN Democracy Fund.
Straw reports that the Trump administration, through Secretary of State Marco Rubio, labels these agencies as "redundant, wasteful" and part of a "woke agenda." The former Foreign Secretary interprets this as an attack on the United Nations itself, noting Trump's repeated questioning of the institution's purpose.
Historical Parallels and Grave Risks
Straw draws a sobering historical parallel, recalling how US isolationism after the First World War—specifically the Senate's blockage of involvement in the League of Nations—created a vacuum that emboldened Adolf Hitler. He emphasises that it was the US that championed the UN's creation after the devastation of the Second World War.
"It’s cumbersome, frustrating but it has helped prevent many conflicts," Straw states, directly addressing Trump: "Be careful what you wish for."
The article also touches on Straw's personal insights into Iran, following a visit shortly after 9/11, where he describes a regime now facing its worst civil unrest since the 1979 revolution. "You can smell the regime’s decay," he observes, though he cautions that no one can predict the outcome.
In lighter concluding notes, Straw mentions archiving his political papers, his hopes for his football team Blackburn Rovers, and an anecdote about his perceptive wire-haired Dachshund, which seems to understand his family's conversations.
