In an “Address to the Nation” on Thursday afternoon, Keir Starmer said “my focus is delivering calm, level-headed leadership in the national interest”. Alluding to Donald Trump’s outbursts against him earlier this week, the Prime Minister also spoke about “having the strength to stand by our values and our principles no matter the pressure to do otherwise”.
Trump unfavourably compared Starmer with Winston Churchill at an Oval Office press conference on Tuesday and savaged him in interviews with the Sun and the Daily Telegraph. When pressed, Starmer said he had not spoken to Trump since Saturday, before the president’s tirade.
The PM said that his priority is putting a “shield” over the hundreds of thousands of British people and personnel in the Middle East. “This is a huge undertaking. It’s one of the biggest operations of its kind, many times bigger than the evacuation from Afghan. It’s not going to happen overnight but we will not stop until our people our safe,” he said.
The PM admitted he does not know how long the war will go on for, but said it “could continue for some time”. He addressed the possible impact on energy prices, using it as an example of why he believes the government’s transition to net zero is needed to “to reduce dependence on volatile international markets”.
[Further reading: Churchill knew the relationship was never special]
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