Keir Starmer has suggested he did not raise his frustration with Donald Trump over the impact of the US president’s actions on UK energy prices when the two spoke on Thursday night.
In a short pooled television interview in Qatar on Friday morning, the prime minister said the call focused instead on the need for a “practical plan” to open the strait of Hormuz. Starmer had said in an earlier interview with Robert Peston that he was “fed up” with energy prices going up in the UK because of wars started by Trump and Vladimir Putin. But when asked whether he had repeated that point directly to Trump, Starmer did not answer it head-on.
“Most of the time on the call” was spent discussing the practical plan, he said, without setting out what that plan involved.
Starmer also said he told Trump that leaders of Gulf countries had stressed to him that, if the ceasefire is to hold, they should be involved in shaping the region’s future. He said there was among the Gulf states “a very strong sense there can’t be tolling or restrictions” on the strait of Hormuz as part of any final settlement.
Gulf tour and regional allies
The prime minister said the overall message from his visit was how much value Gulf countries place on the UK being “an ally” and “a friend” at a moment of need.
“The overarching impression here is the importance, as they see it, of us standing with them as an ally, as a friend of theirs at a point of need,” he said.
He added that there had been reflection on “the work that we’ve done with them over the last six to seven weeks, on collective self-defence.”
Starmer also repeated his view that the European members of Nato need to spend more on defence. He made the point again when asked about Donald Trump’s threats to withdraw from Nato. Asked whether he had raised those threats in the call, Starmer again did not give a direct answer, but said he was continually making the case that Europe needed to do more for the alliance.
The comments came as the UK government continued to emphasise defence cooperation and rapid delivery from the domestic arms industry. Subject to contract, the first substantial tranche of missiles and launchers is due to be delivered to the Ministry of Defence in May, with more missiles and associated launchers expected within the first six months of the agreement.
The government said the arrangement showed how the UK defence industry can “deliver at pace”, while drawing on lessons from conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East to provide “cost-effective air defence solutions” for the UK and its partners.
