Trump taunts drive Starmer into EU’s arms
4/2/202641 min
Donald Trump has heaped insults on Sir Keir Starmer in recent weeks over his stance on the Iran war. The US president labelled the UK prime minister “no Winston Churchill”, said Britain’s aircraft carriers were mere “toys” and told Britain to “go get your own oil” from the Gulf. So perhaps it’s unsurprising that the PM appears to be pivoting heavily towards the EU. Host Lucy Fisher unpicks the shift with colleagues Jim Pickard, Anna Gross and Robert Shrimsley. They also discuss how the Middle East conflict will play out in the upcoming local elections.
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Follow Lucy on X: @LOS_Fisher, and Bluesky: @lucyfisher.ft.com; Robert: @robertshrimsley and @robertshrimsley.bsky.social; Jim @PickardJE and @pickardje.bsky.social and Anna @AnnaSophieGross & @annasophiegross.bsky.social
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Presented by Lucy Fisher. Produced by Clare Williamson. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Original music by Breen Turner, mix by Sean McGarrity. The broadcast engineers were Andrew Giorgiades and Petros Gioumpasis. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s global head of Audio.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsLucy Fisher· Host0:00
[upbeat music] You know how it goes. One relationship gets messy and suddenly you're texting the old friend you swore you'd moved on from. Well, for Keir Starmer, that old pal is the European Union. Welcome to Political Fix from the Financial Times with me, Lucy Fisher. Trump has heaped insult upon insult on Starmer in the past few weeks. He slammed him as no Winston Churchill, said Britain's aircraft carriers were mere toys, and told the UK to go get your own oil from the Gulf. Not exactly the kind of thing you expect from a close ally. So perhaps it's no surprise Starmer appears to be seriously pivoting to the EU. And all that as local election campaigns heat up and cost of living pressures intensify. With me to unpack it all are Chief Political Commentator, Robert Shrimsley. Hi, Robert.
Robert Shrimsley· Panelist0:49
Hello, Lucy.
Lucy Fisher· Host0:50
And our Deputy Political Editor, Jim Pickard. Hi, Jim.
Jim Pickard· Panelist0:53
Hi, Lucy.
Lucy Fisher· Host0:54
And Political Correspondent, Anna Gross. Hi, Anna.
Anna Gross· Panelist0:56
Hi, Lucy.
Lucy Fisher· Host0:57
So on Wednesday, Jim, you covered Keir Starmer's press conference to the nation on the rumbling on fallout from the Iran crisis. And one of the big shifts from that, which will clearly have a long tail, was his overt positioning on the EU. Tell us more about that.
Jim Pickard· Panelist1:19
So it was another of these press conferences where Keir Starmer's under a lot of pressure to talk about what is the British government doing for British households who are gonna be hit by yet more cost of living crisis