Donald Trump Ally Says US President To Blame For Keir Starmer Row

An ally of Donald Trump has blamed the US president for his ongoing spat with Keir Starmer over Britain’s role in the the Iran war.

Trump has repeatedly lashed out at the prime minister for initially refusing America’s request to use UK military bases to launch attacks on Iran.

Starmer has since granted the US permission after Iranians began bombing other Middle East countries, putting 300,000 British citizens in the region at risk.

However, the UK says American jets can only carry out “defensive” missions targeting missile launch sites from British bases.

Trump said last week that Starmer was “not Winston Churchill” and on Saturday night claimed Britain was trying to “join a war after we’ve already won”.

Despite this tension, the president’s friend Chris Ruddy insisted the “special relationship” between the UK and the US is still not “broken”.

The founder and chief executive of conservative media outlet Newsmax told the BBC the recent friction could be described as a “bump in the road”.

“The president has great respect for Britain and the prime minister,” he said, speaking to Radio 4′s Today programme. “I think there was probably some miscommunication early on but that’s been smoothed over.”

Starmer suggested last week that Trump’s war may be unlawful and that the president evidently had no clear objective for the war.

But Ruddy said that America usually engages its allies months ahead of time when it comes to operations like this.

He said: “In this case, as I understand it, the United States notified the British literally on the eve of the attack or as the attack on Iran was underway and said we would like to use your bases.

“Starmer’s response was not that he was not going to do it but that he was going to review it, get the buy-in of the cabinet.

“Within 24 hours he came back, and said it was approved.

“I don’t think it was a real effort to stymie the Americans on his part. Britain came behind the United States quicker than any other ally in Europe, was far better than the French, and stood very strong with us.”

French president Emmanuel Macron and Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez have both claimed the strikes are outside of international law.

“I believe the US did not engage early enough the allies,” Ruddy said. “We’re seeing poll numbers here where Americans do not fully support the Iran attack and the reason I believe is that the administration did not fully communicate the importance of this attack and why a strike on Iran on its nuclear facilities was critically important at this time.”

Ruddy added that every day the Iran war drags on, the worse it gets for the US.

“Over time, the public perception around the world becomes ‘Iran is the victim, not the perpetrator of heinous crimes over many decades’,” the Trump ally said.

He said he would suggest the president comes up with a clear marker of what he wants to achieve, and once that is reached, “declare victory”.