A Labour MP has accused President Trump of damaging the “special relationship” with Britain and not Sir Keir Starmer.
Speaking on GB News Tom Hayes said: “I don’t think that the US UK relationship has been thrown away. It’s a long-standing relationship that has survived many presidents and many prime ministers.
“And I think what’s striking is that when the President says something on his social media channels, quite quickly, he moves away from it. Or if he doesn’t, the State Department and the Pentagon do, so those relations will continue.
“I think it’s also just staring into reality here. With the strikes against Iran, Donald Trump is continuing a new path as President. One that builds on his actions in Venezuela. Somebody who wants to wrong foot his allies as well as his opponents, who is more unpredictable as the week goes by.
“And so, of course, the Prime Minister spends an awful lot of time investing in a personal relationship with Donald Trump. Of course he fought for Britain’s interest in that relationship.
“But when push comes to shove and the UK is asked to join an offensive military operation of choice, and the UK declines, is it any wonder that President Trump then criticises our Prime Minister?
“Donald Trump is no Truman and he’s no Roosevelt. And I say that because they knew, in World War Two and after, exactly what the goals they were pursuing were. Donald Trump seems to be changing his mind about the operations in Iran by the minute, and that should be really alarming.
“So why should the UK Prime Minister commit military service personnel and put at risk our interests, our people, our economy, for an operation which has got changing goals, and as far as Donald Trump seems to be behaving, an unpredictable leader.
“We have a US President who, when the Prime Minister rejected the request to be involved in the military operations, nonetheless prosecuted those operations knowing they could put UK lives, UK service personnel’s lives, at risk. That it was destabilising a region that would impact on his allies.
“And if I may, this is the US President who said that the UK and other allies were not combatant nations in Afghanistan.
“He’s made a mistake in criticising the Prime Minister as he has done today, and I think he’ll change his mind.
“Actually, we need to be really mindful about putting the lives of our brave service personnel at risk. You never, ever commit the UK to a military operation without a clear strategy, a clear goal.
“I am a gay man who knows that if I were living in Iran under the Supreme Leader, I would have been hung from a crane. I know too that the Supreme Leader and the cohort around him have repressed and massacred their civilians, and how many they have killed and how many they have repressed, we will never know, because of the media blackout that they operate.
“I know too that I do not want a nuclear armed Iran, and I don’t shed a tear for the death of the Supreme Leader. But does that require the UK to commit to a military operation of choice in attacking Iran when the goal is not entirely clear from the President?
“Is the goal regime change? Is it a flourishing of democracy? Is it about making sure that the nuclear weaponry is disintegrated, the missile delivery systems are disintegrated. Is it about peace in the Middle East? Is it about regional stability?
“I don’t think he knows what he’s trying to achieve. And I think in the coming days, we’re going to see an America that is having to articulate in more narrow and specific terms exactly what it wants to achieve, because it isn’t able to achieve them.
“I think the comparison here isn’t between Trump and Obama. I think it’s between Trump presidency one and Trump presidency two. I think nobody could deny that the President in his second term is pursuing a very different path to his first. And I will sit here, and I will say that with the Abraham Accords, he of course, contributed towards international peace and stability in the region.
“But the presidency that he is executing now is one which is far more militarised, is far more forward leading in its use of military force, and far less interested the use of peace and negotiation.
“I’m here thinking about the evidence before us. How clear, how certain are we about how close Iran was to be in a nuclear armed state? The US launched military weapons and offensive against Iran in the past few months, which was impactful.
“Do we have clear evidence from the US to prove that the Iranian regime was nearer to a nuclear weapon? So we have to rely on a president whose interest it is in creating the impression of a nuclear Iran being quite close.
“I have lived in America. I have studied in America. I’ve travelled widely in that country. I have many American friends. I regard myself as an Atlanticist. I am concerned about recent behaviour by President Trump, which I think undermines the special relationship.
“I don’t think it’s Keir Starmer undermining the special relationship. I think it’s unfortunately President Trump.
“And what I would say is that a true friend doesn’t do everything that the President wants of it when it could put at jeopardy our interest and it could harm the lives of our brave service personnel.”
