President Donald J. Trump “ripped into” then-Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer during a 2025 meeting in Britain, according to former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
| PULSE POINTS |
❓ WHAT HAPPENED: President Donald J. Trump heavily criticized then-Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s immigration policies during a lunch meeting in Britain in 2025, according to former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. 💬 KEY QUOTE: “I sat in on a lunch with the President and Starmer… The President just starts ripping into him for his policies. He’s like, ‘Your policies here are so stupid, you need to close your borders, you need to deport these people you have in your country. I know your country, I know your people, they hate what you’re doing…’ And Starmer’s just sitting there.” – Karoline Leavitt 📰 DETAIL: Leavitt related the conversation in an interview with Sean Hannity this week. It took place during a lunch meeting where Trump expressed his disapproval of Starmer’s policies, particularly on immigration and border control. Starmer allowed illegal immigration to Britain via small boats crossing the English Channel to spiral further out of control during his tenure, having scrapped a plan to transfer asylum seekers to Rwanda during his first days in office. Trump and Starmer also clashed over the British leader’s plan to transfer the Chagos Islands, which host a British-American military base, to China-aligned Mauritius, a position the President reiterated on Tuesday in his first meeting with Starmer’s successor, Andy Burnham. Trump also publicly and repeatedly expressed his disbelief at Starmer’s refusal to reopen the North Sea for oil and gas exploration, which had contributed to sky-high energy prices and the closure of plants and factories in the United Kingdom. Starmer was forced out of office by Britain’s ruling Labour Party in an internal coup after losing heavily to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party in local elections in May. |
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