After Starmer confirmed today that the UK will recognise Palestine as a state by UNGA in September unless a ceasefire is reached, President Trump told reporters he never discussed the decision with Starmer, adding:
“You’re rewarding Hamas if you do that. I don’t think they should be rewarded. I’m not in that camp.”
Earlier this afternoon Foreign Secretary David Lammy said “it wouldn’t be right for me to comment on private conversations” when asked whether Starmer told Trump about the move. Meanwhile the Israeli government posted on X that they “reject the statement by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.” Starmer’s decision will have far-reaching consequences…
UPDATE: Benjamin Netanyahu responds:
“Starmer rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism & punishes its victims. A jihadist state on Israel’s border TODAY will threaten Britain TOMORROW. Appeasement towards jihadist terrorists always fails. It will fail you too. It will not happen.”
Tom Baldwin, author of Starmer’s hagiography, spoke to Times Radio:
Tom Baldwin: “I think he’d like to do something. He’s very dutiful and driven by service. That’s why he came into politics. I think that’s characterised his time as prime minister. He hasn’t always sought popularity or been good at being popular. But I think he has some of the necessary qualities that we actually do want in a prime minister. That resilience, that relentlessness, that ability to carry the weight and the job really does weigh very heavily on people and he carries that weight very, very well.”
Jo Coburn: “NATO Secretary-General?”
Tom Baldwin: “I think that’s something that he would be interested in. I think it probably requires Andy Burnham’s government to support him in that and these are some of the questions which Andy Burnham has to resolve quite quickly.”