Donald Trump going to bat for British voters shows the game is well and truly up for Keir Starmer - Lee Cohen

Lee Cohen
Wed, 01 Apr 2026 10:51:18 +0000
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Donald Trump’s latest Truth Social post is not an insult to Britain. It is the candid verdict of a realist ally who has simply said aloud what millions of patriotic Britons have known for months.

Britain must “build up some delayed courage”, Trump declared, sail its own forces to the Strait of Hormuz, and “just TAKE IT” because “the U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us”.

The rebuke is brutal precisely because it is transactional, not sentimental.

In the wake of the February 28 American and Israeli strikes on Iranian military and nuclear infrastructure, Starmer’s government offered Diego Garcia only after prolonged hesitation, committed RAF assets only once the decisive phase had passed, and spoke endlessly of “de-escalation” while Iranian proxies continued to menace Gulf shipping. Trump has confirmed what the country’s centre-right has argued since last summer: Keir Starmer has failed his country.

The record is damning in its clarity. When Washington sought unfettered access to the sovereign British territory of Diego Garcia to support operations against Iran’s nuclear programme and its network of proxies, Downing Street equivocated.

Legalistic concerns, coalition sensitivities, and the familiar reflex to placate activist lobbies delayed a straightforward yes.

Only when the heavy lifting had already been done did Britain release limited carrier and air assets. Public statements from ministers emphasised multilateral process and restraint, even as Houthi and other Iranian-backed forces kept Gulf oil flows at risk — the very energy artery on which the United Kingdom still depends for price stability and industrial viability. This was not prudent diplomacy. It was strategic abdication dressed up as sophistication.

Such hesitation was entirely predictable. From the moment Starmer entered office, he has displayed a discomfort with hard power that borders on ideological.

The same mindset that produced the tilt back towards Brussels, the unease with post-Brexit assertiveness, and the instinctive deference to NGOs and legal constraints has now produced a foreign policy of managed decline.

Britain retains the Royal Navy, forward bases, and intelligence partnerships that once made it an indispensable partner.

Under this Government, those assets have been treated as optional extras rather than instruments of sovereign interest.

The result is a country that still expects American cover while offering only performative support. Trump, who has never hidden his transactional view of alliances, has simply drawn the logical conclusion.

The humiliation is real, and it is self-inflicted. For months, the patriotic centre-right has warned that Labour’s approach to the special relationship was eroding Britain’s credibility.

Trump’s intervention makes that warning impossible for the BBC or the governing class to dismiss as mere partisanship.

This is not some isolationist scold speaking; it is the American president who has consistently defended British independence and the post-Brexit settlement.

When even he states that Britain has become a marginal player in crises that directly threaten its energy security and global standing, the domestic narrative of “prudent restraint” collapses.

Starmer’s premiership was sold to the public on the promise of seriousness and competence. The Iran episode exposes it instead as managerial caution masquerading as statesmanship.

None of this is to deny Britain’s latent strength. The United Kingdom possesses the material and human capital to act decisively alongside the United States when it chooses.

The Royal Navy can still project power; British intelligence remains world-class; the sovereign decision-making that Brexit restored is still available.

The betrayal of the Brexit vote was never the departure from the EU itself; it was the failure to use that departure to become a more assertive, self-reliant power.

Trump’s rebuke, harsh as it is, therefore arrives as an external prod that patriotic Britain can and must seize. It is a reminder that independence without resolve is merely a slogan.

Starmer’s failure is now a matter of public international record. The question is no longer whether he has failed his country; it is how much longer Britain will tolerate a Prime Minister who has made that failure visible to its closest ally.

The world already knows the truth. Trump has simply ensured that no one, not even the most insulated member of the governing class, can pretend otherwise.