Trump Calls UK Policies Stupid During UK Visit

Donald Trump told Keir Starmer his immigration policies were “so stupid” during his second state visit to the UK, it has been revealed.

The US president started “ripping into” the then prime minister as the pair had lunch at Chequers, according to Trump’s former press secretary, Karoline Leavitt.

It came after the pair had signed a “tech prosperity deal” between the UK and US at the PM’s country residence last September.

Starmer believed he had pulled off a diplomatic coup after King Charles invited Trump to the UK for an unprecedented second state visit.

But Leavitt, who quit the White House earlier this year, revealed the move backfired spectacularly when the president used the trip to personally attack the PM.

Appearing on former Fox News presenter Sean Hannity’s podcast, she said: “I remember sitting in a lunch with the president and Starmer, and we’re sitting round the table and we’re all enjoying lunch … and the president just starts ripping into him for his policies.

“He’s like your policies here are so stupid, you need to close your borders, you need to deport these people you have in your country.

“I know your country, I know you’re people, they hate what you’re doing. And Starmer’s just sitting there. And this is in his house, in his country. We’re not even at the White House, we’re not even on our own territory.”

Asked if she found it entertaining, Leavitt said: “Of course.”

Starmer initially struck up an unlikely friendship with the president when he first became PM in 2024.

However, relations between the pair had completely broken down by the time he left office in July after clashes over, among other things, Trump’s threats to annex Greenland and the war in Iran.

Trump took another swipe at Starmer as he held his first face-to-face talks with Andy Burnham at the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.

Asked about how relations are between the US and UK now, he said: “They are more up now than they were with your last prime minister, let me put it that way.”

Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.