Trump and Starmer in row over use of UK military bases
President Trump has said he is “very disappointed” in Sir Keir Starmer after the UK initially refused to allow the US to use military bases to organise attacks on Iran over the weekend.
Trump has said the Prime Minister “took far too long” to change his mind in allowing military bases to be used after the UK government said on Sunday night that military bases in England and in the Chagos Islands could be used for “defensive purposes”.
The UK government had initially decided against allowing US forces to use military bases to attack Iran on the basis of legal advice. Military bases are now being used for “specific and limited defensive action”, which includes hitting Iranian armoury to prevent missile attacks.
“That’s probably never happened between our countries before,” Trump told The Telegraph in an interview.
“It sounds like he was worried about the legality.”
But Starmer hit back against the US president in a statement to the House of Commons on Monday afternoon as he distanced the UK from attacks on Iran.
The Prime Minister said he did not believe in “regime change from the skies” and linked the ongoing conflict in the Middle East to the Iraq war in 2003, which was backed by one of his predecessors, Tony Blair.
“The lessons of history has taught us that it is important when we make decisions like this that we establish there is a lawful basis for what the United Kingdom is doing,” Starmer told MPs.
“That is one of the lessons from Iraq. And there is a viable thought-through plan with an objective that can be achieved.
“That is the principle that I applied to the decisions that I made over the weekend.
“They are also the principles I applied to be able to take defensive action in order to hit the launchers that are currently threatening our citizens and our military personnel.”
Chagos controversy
Trump also raised fresh questions about the UK’s handover of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, an issue on which he has flip-flopped positions on and faced intense lobbying from Starmer’s political opponents.
The deal to hand over the islands in the Indian Ocean to Mauritius while retaining the military base on Diego Garcia on a 99-year lease is on hold pending a bill to be presented in parliament.
The US president initially gave the deal his blessing in May 2025 before attacking its terms in a post when he threatened to take over Greenland earlier this year.
He later suggested the deal was the “best” Starmer could have reached with Mauritius but new comments on Monday will add to scrutiny of Starmer’s foreign policy commitments.
“All of a sudden [Mauritius] was claiming ownership. He should have fought it out and owned it or made him take it, if you want to know the truth.”
“We were very disappointed in Keir.”
He also said the Chagos deal was a “very woke thing”.
“It would have been much better on the legal front if he just kept the ownership of the land and not given it to people that weren’t the rightful owners,” he said.
Trump attack on Starmer makes for awkward timing
Frosty relations between Starmer and Trump will add to the diplomatic pressures on the government amid an escalating conflict in the Middle East.
Comments made by Trump may also prove to be awkward for Starmer given months of praise for the Prime Minister in his management of the special relationship.
An airstrike killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader on the weekend, while Iranian missiles have struck buildings in Dubai, Kuwait and other Gulf countries.
Foreign secretary Yvette Cooper revealed that a runway at an RAF base in Cyprus was attacked by an Iranian drone. Defence secretary John Healy also revealed that armed forces were acting to defend Gulf countries from missiles.