Trump Slams UK’s ‘Weak Leaders’ Ahead Of Nato Talks

Keir Starmer is preparing for a dressing down from Donald Trump at his last Nato summit as prime minister over the government’s underwhelming defence spending plans.

The PM will fly to Ankara in Turkey a week after unveiling the long-delayed Defence Investment Plan (DIP).

Although it contained an extra £15 billion for the armed forces over the next four years, nearly one-third of it is unfunded, while there was no pathway for how the government plans to hit its target of spending 3.5% of national income on defence by 2035.

Starmer insisted that, once security spending is added, Britain will be spending 4.2% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defence by then.

But that would still fall short of Trump’s demand that all Nato allies increase defence-related spending to 5% of GDP by the middle of the next decade.

It’s therefore no surprise that, judging by his social media posts, the US president may already sharpening his knives as he prepares to meet the outgoing prime minister.

Trump reposted a tweet on his platform, Truth Social, over the weekend which attacked England’s supposed decline.

“Just 100 years ago, England was the greatest empire the world had ever seen,” the post, from an account called Geiger Capital, read.

“A few generations later, they are a deindustrialized welfare zone unable to stop third-world men from invading on rubber boats.

“Decline happens fast. Weak leaders and suicidal empathy.”

The same post also pointed out that Britain is on the cusp of appointing its seventh prime minister in a decade, with Andy Burnham preparing to replace Starmer in two weeks’ time.

Trump’s dig comes after months of turmoil in the UK-US relationship, triggered by Starmer’s refusal to let American troops use British military base to launch attacks on Iran.

Trump has already criticised the incoming PM too, describing Burnham – the former mayor of Greater Manchester – as “the mayor of a town” and “extremely liberal”.

The US ambassador to Nato Matthew Whitaker, has already hinted that the US president will be cracking the whip on his allies at the summit in Turkey this week.

In a thinly-veiled threat, he said: “Some allies are doing more than others.

“Poland, the North countries, the Baltic countries lead the way and Germany is on track for the 5%, reaching it in 2029, but many allies are lagging behind and President Trump expects all allies to step up immediately.

“We expect all allies to demonstrate meaningful upward trajectories both quantitively and qualitatively in defence spending that results in fairer burden sharing.”

Britain was Nato’s third largest defence spender in 2015 after the US and Greece, but last year it slipped down to 12th.

Burnham has vowed to “take my responsibilities fully” to fund the DIP if he gets into office.

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.