Why Keir Starmer can no longer cling to the 'fiction' of a special UK/US relationship
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European leaders, including from the UK, have swiftly condemned Donald Trump’s claims Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky is a “dictator”, but what does this mean for the region, and future relationships with the US president?
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Read time: 4 mins
In brief…
- Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch and Ed Davey have all shared their support for Ukraine and its democracy, as Donald Trump moves closer to Vladmir Putin ahead of upcoming peace talks.
- Judith Gough, the UK’s former ambassador to Ukraine, tells Jon Sopel the greatest strength the EU and its allies has is its unity – with Russia sorely lacking international support.
- Lewis Goodall says the UK and EU are at a point, for the first time in history, where America may become a ‘strategic adversary’, rather than an ally, on the world stage.
What’s the story?
"There comes a point, surely, where the West has to say, this isn't accurate. This isn't right."
That was Jon Sopel, on the day Donald Trump called Volodymyr Zelensky an unelected "dictator".
And that point, it now appears, was just hours later.
Elections in Ukraine have been deferred while the country remains under siege from Russian forces, in its ongoing, three-year and illegal invasion.
President Trump said Zelensky was doing a “terrible job” and “refuses to have elections”.
But in a call to the Ukrainian leader, Keir Starmer said it was "perfectly reasonable" for Zelensky to defer elections at this time, something which also previously happened in the UK during World War II.
"President Zelensky is not a dictator," said Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.
"He is the democratically elected leader of Ukraine who bravely stood up to Putin’s illegal invasion.”
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said Trump's comments "must be where the line is drawn".
"It is my sincere hope that the whole political spectrum in the United Kingdom will speak with one voice in opposition to Trump’s lies," he added.
German chancellor Olaf Scholz also offered his country's support to Ukraine, and restated an invitation for it to join the EU.
Trump is currently preparing to meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin to discuss a peace deal, but Ukraine – nor any other parties – will be involved in the talks.
Why Europe needs to ‘pull together’
Judith Gough, former UK ambassador to Ukraine between 2015 and 2019, and who knew Zelensky before he came to power, tells Jon Sopel that Europe, and its leaders, needs to understand the implications of the current situation with Putin and Russia.
“We in Europe really need to pull together. I think we've seen that over the last week or two, actually, as leaders have come together to really be clear about what's at stake here,” she says.
“It's not just Ukrainian Security we're talking about, but our own security.
“It really matters that we work together on this, and it’s why Ukraine has to be listened to.”
She adds that Starmer’s call to Zelensky, following Trump’s online attack, was “absolutely the right thing to do”.
“The UK, throughout recent years, has leant into Ukraine and supported Ukraine. It would be a surprise to me if we step back from that now, and a huge disappointment,” Gough says.
“That was exactly the right thing to do, and it's the right thing to go and see Trump, explain our position and how important this is – and how we need the US on board as well.”
She says the unity that exists between European countries and their leaders is the greatest advantage the EU and its allies have over Putin’s Russia.
“Our strength in the West has always been our ability to work together,” Gough adds.
“We have partnerships and friendships and alliances. Putin doesn't really have that. He has relationships based on coercion and transaction.”
What’s The News Agents’ take?
Lewis Goodall says the current situation with Trump, Putin, Zelensky, Russia and Ukraine could spell the end of the myth of the UK's 'special relationship' – along with other hopes for closer ties with America moving forward.
"At what point does Starmer come clean, not cling to the fiction any longer that the interests of Britain and the US are always aligned," he says.
Lewis believes that point has already come.
"The fiction that number No.10, or Starmer, can be a bridge between Europe and the United States, has never been more exposed than it has been in the last 24 to 48 hours.”
"In calling Zelensky a dictator, in saying there should be elections, in cozying up so profoundly to Putin it leaves Starmer no space to be able to cling to those fictions anymore," he says.
"The paths that Starmer, that Trump and Zelensky are on, are diverging so much, means that it is impossible for Starmer to try and straddle the two."
This situation could, he adds, establish the US as a "strategic adversary for the first time ever".
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