Starmer criticises Trump for ‘pressure on me and Britain’ over Greenland

Donald Trump’s criticism of the Chagos Islands deal with Mauritius was explicitly intended to put pressure on the UK to weaken its position on the future of Greenland, Keir Starmer has said.In his most explicit criticism of the US president so far, Starmer used prime minister’s questions to link Trump’s change of stance over a deal he had previously backed with the president’s much-stated intention to annex or buy Greenland.After he was grilled by Kemi Badenoch over Trump’s words, Starmer accused the Conservative leader of, in effect, endorsing an attempt to make the UK cave in over Greenland.“I made out my position on Greenland absolutely clear on Monday,” Starmer began, referring to a Downing Street press conference at which he condemned Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on eight European nations who has sent troops to Greenland.“President Trump deployed words on Chagos yesterday that were different to his previous words of welcome and support,” he went on, saying the US leader “deployed those words yesterday for the express purpose of putting pressure on me and Britain in relation to my values and principles, on the future of Greenland.“He wants me to yield on my position, and I’m not going to do so. Given that that was his express purpose, I’m surprised the leader of the opposition has jumped on the bandwagon.”In a post on his Truth Social platform overnight on Tuesday, Trump reversed previous US backing for the deal to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, a plan intended to secure the future of the major UK-US airbase on one of the islands in the Indian Ocean archipelago, Diego Garcia.“Shockingly, our ‘brilliant’ NATO Ally, the United Kingdom, is currently planning to give away the Island of Diego Garcia, the site of a vital US Military Base, to Mauritius, and to do so FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER,” he wrote, amid a flurry of posts about Greenland.He went on: “The UK giving away extremely important land is an act of GREAT STUPIDITY, and is another in a very long line of National Security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired.”After Badenoch questioned Starmer on Trump’s stance, the prime minister said she was undermining political unity over Greenland.“I had understood her position to be that she supported the government’s position on the future of Greenland,” he said. “Now she appears to support words by President Trump to undermine the government’s position on the future of Greenland. She’s chosen naked opportunism over the national interest.”After Badenoch argued this was not the case, Starmer reiterated that Trump’s words on the Chagos Islands “expressly intended to put pressure on me to yield on my principles” over Greenland.He went on: “What he said about Chagos was literally in the same sentence as what he said about Greenland. That was his purpose, and the future of Greenland is a binary issue that is splitting the world at the moment with material consequences.“I’ve been clear and consistent in my position on the future of Greenland. Its future is for Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark alone.”He added: “This is an important national moment, and yet again, the leader of the opposition has shown she is incapable of rising to it.”