Starmer Warned Against Sending King To ‘Bullying’ Trump

Keir Starmer has been urged not to send King Charles to the US for a state visit after Donald Trump’s “bullying”.

The monarch will head stateside at the end of April for a pre-planned trip despite the president’s repeated attacks on the UK.

Hours before the state visit was confirmed, Trump slammed his allies, telling the UK to “go get your own oil” from the Strait of Hormuz after Britain refused to join the Iran war.

He’s previously called British aircraft carriers “toys” and accused the UK of seeking to “join wars after we’ve already won”.

There are some hopes that the King will be able to repair the strained relationship by appealing to Trump’s enthusiasm for the Royal Family.

But speaking on BBC Newsnight on Tuesday, broadcaster David Dimbleby claimed: “It’s a very bad political moment to send him the present of the King, with all the panoply that involves.

“A state banquet? While he’s bombing the hell out of Iran and people are dying all over the Middle East?”

Dimbleby added: “It would have been appropriate to say to the King through the usual channels, look, this is probably not quite the right moment for the King to come here. Let’s postpone it.

“Trump says the war’s over, but we know it’s not over, let’s postpone it until things quieten down.”

He said Trump is a “narcissist” who has been “bullying” Britain, having downplayed the UK’s role in Afghanistan earlier this year, too.

“The King is head of the armed forces and I think a rebuke of some kind is necessary,” Dimbleby said.

He added: “I think it’s a misuse of the King, who has to do what he is told by the government, but I think it’s giving Trump more than he deserves.”

He also claimed that the UK’s relationship with the US is “not one of mutual affection” but a deal between two countries.

But former national security adviser, Peter Ricketts, told Times Radio that it could be a “good thing” for the international relationship.

Ricketts said: “Well, the King is an enormous professional who spent all his life on difficult missions. And my goodness, this will be a difficult mission. And he does have a tremendous patch with people. Trump seems to like him.

“So whether it was not a good idea to plan this visit at all, it’s going ahead now. And yes, I think in being there with Trump in the same room, with all his experience and advice and the and the affection that Trump seems to have for the Royal Family.

“I mean, actually, that can only be a good thing. Although, you know, I do think it’s very hard luck on the King to have to undertake this very perilous mission right now, hopefully with the war, no, not actually a hot war, but with relations very rocky at the political level.

“It’s perhaps a moment for some, some quiet royal diplomacy.”

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