The Mirror

NATO ‘STRONGER and more united' after summit but Starmer WARNS Trump to 'focus on ceasefire'

Sir Keir Starmer said Nato is “stronger and more united” coming out of the Ankara summit, with Donald Trump praising its “spirit”, despite the US president’s criticism of the alliance threatening to overshadow the meeting. The Prime Minister said leaders “achieved what we wanted to achieve, which is unity”, even after Mr Trump earlier threatened to relate his problems, including over Greenland and Iran, at the meeting. Mr Trump berated European states for failing to pay enough for defence, a key issue at the summit, with Nato general-secretary Mark Rutte calling on allies to present “credible” plans for reaching the target of spending 5% of GDP on defence. Suggestions that Mr Trump might confront Sir Keir about the absence of a clear path to reaching that target in last week’s Defence Investment Plan (Dip) did not materialise, according to Sir Keir. “I had no discussion with Donald Trump in which he made any issue with me in relation to the defence spending for the United Kingdom,” the Prime Minister said. He also insisted he had “always got on” with the US president, even after facing repeated criticism from him. Before the summit, Mr Trump again lashed out at the UK’s refusal to allow Washington to use British bases to launch strikes against Iran at the beginning of the war. Mr Trump reiterated his claim that Greenland, which belongs to Nato ally Denmark, should be part of the US, and hit out at allies for failing to support his war against Tehran. Sir Keir, who sat next to Mr Trump at the gathering of the North Atlantic Council, afterwards said Mr Trump hailed the “unity of the meeting”. The Mirror Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailymirror The Mirror IG: http://instagram.com/dailymirror The Mirror TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dailymirror The Mirror Twitter: http://twitter.com/DailyMirror The Mirror Homepage: https://www.mirror.co.uk Sign up for our newsletters: https://www.mirror.co.uk/email #trump #starmer #nato