Keir Starmer rejects notion that U.K. has to choose between Europe and America

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer strongly rejected the idea that Britain had to choose between the U.S. and its allies in Europe.

Mr. Starmer is one of several European leaders navigating Mr. Trump’s imminent return to power.  Mr. Trump is expected to meet several Heads of State on Saturday when he visits Paris for the re-opening of the Notre Dame Cathedral. As U.S. President, Mr. Trump had a testy relationship with the European Union (EU), over trade, defence expenditure and positions on Russia and Ukraine

“That somehow we are with either America or Europe is plain wrong. I reject it utterly,” Mr. Starmer said during a foreign policy speech at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet in London on Monday evening.

“The national interest demands that we work with both,” he added.

Mr. Starmer said the U.K. would “never turn away” from its relationship with the U.S., calling the bilateral relationship the “cornerstone” of the U.K.’s security and prosperity for over a century.

The Prime Minister said the two countries being close was not based on sentimentality but “hard-headed realism”, as he highlighted areas of cooperation that were important in current times: tech, AI, security and military cooperation.

At a dinner at the Trump Tower in Manhattan on September 26, Mr. Starmer had told Mr. Trump, then a presidential candidate, that his government “would invest more deeply than ever” in the U.K.-U.S. relationship. This was the first meeting between the two men.

“And we will rebuild our ties with Europe too,” Mr. Starmer said during his speech on Monday night, as he blamed the Conservatives for the state of ties with Europe.

Mr. Trump announced the appointment of billionaire Warren Stephens for the post of U.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Mr Stephens, the CEO of financial services company Stephens Inc., was initially a donor to Mr. Trump’s Republican rivals in the latest election cycle before donating to the Trump campaign.

Mr. Stephens had also donated in support of Mr. Trump’s campaign in 2019 and 2020. The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau had taken action against Integrity Advance, a payday loan company in which Mr Stephens had a 40% stake, according to reporting from the Guardian in 2017.

“Warren has always dreamed of serving the United States full time. I am thrilled that he will now have that opportunity as the top Diplomat, representing the U.S.A. to one of America’s most cherished and beloved Allies,” Mr. Trump said on Truth Social, his social media platform.