Donald Trump has said it will be a “tough thing” for Sir Keir Starmer to survive as Prime Minister unless he shifts his position on energy and immigration.
The US president, who has had a fractious relationship with the Labour leader over Iran and has repeatedly criticised him, stopped short of saying Sir Keir should quit, and said he thought “he’s a nice man”.
The US president was speaking to reporters on board Air Force One as he returned from his two-day visit to China.
Sir Keir is currently fighting for his political life as he faces a challenge to his leadership after last week’s disastrous local election results.
Mr Trump has already warned the Prime Minister that he was “getting killed on energy” by not boosting oil extraction in the North Sea, and accused him of “windmilling the country to death”. He has also branded UK immigration policies “insane” and claimed Britain was being “invaded”.
Speaking on Air Force One, Mr Trump said: “He’s in trouble for two reasons, energy and immigration. He’s very bad on energy. He should open up the North Sea. He’s got a gold mine and should open up oil in the North Sea, and he doesn’t. You know they buy their oil, a lot of it from Norway. Norway gets it from the North Sea, not as good an area as Scotland and the UK, so they’re paying Norway a fortune for oil that they take out of the North Sea.”
Pressed over whether the Prime Minister can survive, Mr Trump said: “It’s a tough thing unless he can straighten out immigration, where he’s weak, and if he doesn’t start drilling, stop with the windmills all over the place that are causing havoc. Most expensive form of energy, they kill the birds, they’re unsightly, they’re ruining the landscape.”
The president added: “He’s got to open up the North Sea, you know, he’s got one of the greatest oil finds anywhere in the world, and he’s not using it. I tell him he’s not using it. The oil companies call me every day: ‘Please, please, we want to go to New North Sea.’ He doesn’t allow it to happen.”
Asked if Sir Keir should quit, Mr Trump said: “I don’t say that. I think he’s a nice man, actually. I didn’t like what he said. ‘We’re going to send ships as soon as you’re finished with the wars’, but we are sort of finished militarily, pretty much.”
This was a reference to the planned defensive mission led by Britain and France to safeguard the Strait of Hormuz waterway once the Iran war is over. The proposed post-conflict operation has been criticised by the White House, with US secretary of state Marco Rubio arguing it “doesn’t make sense”.
