Labour dismisses Donald Trump's social media posts condemning Keir Starmer's Iran response as 'special relationship' frays

Mr Trump reiterated his criticsm while speaking on Air Force One earlier this morning, telling reporters the US “didn’t need” the potential support of British aircraft carriers and that “we already won”.

The dressing down of the Labour leader came just days after Sir Keir was described as "no Winston Churchill" by the Republican.

Despite the comments suggesting a serious breakdown in the special relationship between the US and UK, Labour have stressed observers should look beyond the public rift.

Speaking to GB News, Under-Secretary for the Middle East, Hamish Falconer, said Sir Keir had not been “humiliated” in the exchange.

“I found in this job it's best not to focus on social media posts, to focus on substance," he saud.

However, the Labour minister conceded there was "clearly a disagreement between our two countries".

Yet, Mr Falconer said the spat was “part of a much wider, deeper relationship".

"There is an important relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom, which continues," he added.

He stressed the special relationship is "in operation all the time", assuring Sir Keir and Mr Trump were "working very closely to ensure our friends, our partners, our people are protected".

"The special relationship continues to be important for both sides, and I'm sure it will continue to be so well into the future," the Middle East Under-Secretary told The People’s Channel.

Mr Falconer was part of an attempted united front from Labour, with Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper similarly dismissing President Trump’s comments.

“The thing I’ve learned doing this job is you have to focus on the substance and not on social media posts,” she told Sky News.

Ms Cooper praised her boss for his “calm, cool-headed approach to these big, serious international issues".

“We are not going to do things in terms of the rhetoric or hyperbole," she said.

“We are going to do things on really practical, calm, steady decision-making."

The Labour frontbencher said her party had "learnt the lessons" from the Iraq War, where Tony Blair followed the US in a ground invasion of the Middle Eastern country in 2003.

Former PM Tony Blair, who led the UK into several conflicts in the region, did not share his party’s current position as he launched a rare intervention.

“We should have backed America from the very beginning," he told Jewish News.

Describing the US as an "indispensable" ally to the UK, he said Sir Keir should "better show up”.

Initially, Sir Keir chose to deny the US access to British bases from which to launch sorties against Iran.

However, despite Sir Keir’s repeated insistence that the UK was not involved in strikes on Iran, a hostile drone strike was launched against the sovereign base RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus.

Within days, London agreed to a limited form of support, allowing US forces to use certain UK military bases, and is set to send HMS Dragon to protect the Cypriot bases.

The Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, has also been readied for a potential deployment to the Middle East.

That news prompted Mr Trump to pen on Truth Social: “The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East.

“That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer — But we will remember. We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!”

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