Starmer Shrugs Off Trump’s Threat To Leave Nato

Keir Starmer has shrugged off Donald Trump’s threat to leave Nato by defending the alliance and insisting Britain will not be joining the Iran war.

The US president told The Telegraph America’s membership within the organisation is “beyond reconsideration” after his allies refused to back his offensive in the Middle East.

Trump said: “I was never swayed by Nato. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows that too, by the way.”

He expressed disbelief that his allies have not backed the US’s attacks, saying: “Beyond not being there, it was actually hard to believe. And I didn’t do a big sale. I just said, ‘Hey’, you know, I didn’t insist too much. I just think it should be automatic.

“We’ve been there automatically, including Ukraine. Ukraine wasn’t our problem. It was a test, and we were there for them, and we would always have been there for them. They weren’t there for us.”

“You don’t even have a navy,” the president said of the UK. “You’re too old and had aircraft carriers that didn’t work.”

Asked if he thinks Starmer should spend more on defence, the president said: “I’m not going to tell him what to do. He can do whatever he wants. It doesn’t matter.

“All Starmer wants is costly windmills that are driving your energy prices through the roof.”

But in a press conference on Wednesday, the prime minister made it clear that he still supports the defence alliance – and wrote off Trump’s attacks as “noise”.

He said: “Nato is the single most effective military alliance the world has ever seen, and it has kept us safe for many decades and we are fully committed to Nato.

“Whatever the pressure on me and others, whatever the noise, I am going to act in the British national interest in all the decisions that I make.

“That’s why I have been absolutely clear that this is not our war and we are not going to get dragged into it.

“I am equally clear that when it comes to defence and security and our economy future, we have to have closer ties with Europe.”

He confirmed that the government will soon announce a further summit with EU leaders as the UK works closer with its allies on the continent.