Kemi Badenoch has said that Donald Trump’s recent comments about Keir Starmer are “childish.”
On Monday, Trump took aim at Starmer’s leadership style, questioning why the prime minister had decided to “meet with his team” to discuss policy on the war in Iran.
This came after Starmer had reiterated that the UK would not be pulled into the wider war in Iran, as nations across the globe blanked Trump’s demands to send ships to the Strait of Hurmuz.
Trump’s comments were also in the wake of previous barbs he had aimed at Starmer over his decision not to join the US’s war in Iran.
Now, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch – who had previously been keen for the UK government to show more support to the US in their war – has criticised Trump’s comments.
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Speaking to Sky News, Badenoch said she found comments coming from the White House as “quite shocking.”
After saying she was “Keir Starmer’s biggest critic” and claiming he had been “very slow” in reacting to the Iran war, Badenoch said that the “last thing we need is a war of words between the White House and Downing Street.”
She added Trump’s comments had been “quite childish” and that the “Western alliance having a spat is unhelpful.”
But, before Badenoch started defending Starmer too much, she claimed the PM was “on the fence” when it came to the Iran war and whether to support the US in the conflict.
The Tory leader then laid out her current position, saying she didn’t think the UK should have been part of initial strikes on Iran but that the government should have been much quicker in allowing the US to use British military bases.
She also said British forces should have taken out Iranian missile launch capabilities once British territory was under fire.
Really though, Badenoch’s comments seem like the latest example of her cooling support for Trump and the US, perhaps as she realises just how unpopular both the president and his Iran war are among Brits.