Donald Trump has never been known for holding back his opinions about political figures, and Keir Starmer has been on the receiving end of that more than once.
On Monday, June 22, 2026, Starmer announced he will resign as Britain’s prime minister and as leader of the Labour Party, saying he had accepted that he was no longer the best person to lead the party into the next general election. He will remain in office until Labour chooses a successor, with the leadership contest expected to run through the summer.
In an address outside No 10 Downing Street, Starmer said:
“The question my party is asking now is whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general election.
“I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that question. And I accept that answer with good grace.
“Every decision I’ve taken has been about putting the country I love first. That is why I will resign as leader of the Labour Party.
“I have spoken to His Majesty the King this morning to inform him of my decision.”
Trump had already predicted the outcome before the official announcement, posting on Sunday, June 21, that Starmer would resign and claiming he had “failed badly” on immigration and energy, while urging Britain to “open North Sea oil.”
Relations between the two men have cooled in recent months, with Trump repeatedly taking aim at Starmer over a range of issues.
Energy policy has been one of the clearest fault lines. Trump has repeatedly pushed Starmer to make greater use of North Sea oil, describing it as a major resource and calling on Britain to “drill, baby, drill”.
Starmer’s government has taken a different approach, prioritising renewable energy and new nuclear projects while resisting the kind of fossil-fuel expansion Trump has demanded.
Trump has also been a vocal critic of wind power, especially offshore developments. That hostility has long intersected with his feud over turbine projects in Scotland, including a dispute over wind farms visible from his Aberdeenshire golf course.
Another flashpoint came over Peter Mandelson and his appointment as US ambassador after reports highlighted his links to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump called Mandelson a “really bad pick”, although he later suggested Starmer still had time to recover from the controversy.
Greenland has also been a source of disagreement after Trump revived his threat this year to take control of the territory from Denmark, a fellow NATO member.
Further strain followed when Trump suggested NATO troops had “stayed a little off the front lines” in Afghanistan.
He also argued that the US had “never needed” its NATO allies, even though America remains the only country to invoke the alliance’s “all for one, and one for all” clause after the 9/11 attacks.
Starmer responded by calling the remarks about British service personnel in Afghanistan “insulting and frankly appalling”, while paying tribute to the 457 UK troops killed in the war and those who returned wounded.