Sir Keir Starmer has been warned of making a key “mistake” ahead of Donald Trump’s appearance at the World Economic Forum.
Speaking to GB News, Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Alex Burghart cautioned the Prime Minister following his decision not to attend the gathering in Davos.
Speaking ahead of his arrival at Davos, Mr Trump issued a stark message to Sir Keir, urging him to “straighten out” the country.
The US President said: “You look at London, it’s having a lot of problems and if you look at Paris, got a lot of problems.
“They have two problems: immigration and energy. They’ve got to stop with the windmills and they have got to go back.”
Asked if it is an error by the PM not to attend Davos, Mr Burghart told the People’s Channel: “I think it might be. I think really what should be happening at the moment, with everything going on in the world, particularly in the North Atlantic, is that Nato should be meeting.
“We need to have everybody in the alliance together to discuss the very real issue around Greenland and the very real threat to the future of the organisation.”
He cautioned: “If you end up in a situation where Nato collapses, it’s going to be a really scary world.
Alex Burghart has warned Keir Starmer that his absence from the World Economic Forum in Davos is a ‘mistake’
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GB NEWS / PA
“We’re going to end up in a place where America leaves Nato, we’ll probably end up in a situation where Putin will win in Ukraine, and you will then have a very large Russian army with a war economy behind it on the borders of Europe, and that’s that is not a place that we want to be in.”
Asked about Mr Trump’s attack on Sir Keir regarding the Chagos Islands, he said: “It’s safe to say that our American friends have not been entirely consistent on this point, but it’s very good that they’ve realised, albeit at the 11th hour, that this is a very bad deal.
“This is probably the worst real estate deal in the history of the world. You’ve got a situation where we’re giving away sovereign territory and we’re paying £35billion.
“This is awful, bad for our national security, bad for global security. And so I very much hope that there’s something that can be done to end it, for the sake of the West and also the sake of the Chagossians.”
Donald Trump has urged Sir Keir Starmer to ‘straighten out’ the country | KEVIN DIETSCH/GETTY
Questioned on whether the Conservatives would have approved the new Chinese “mega-embassy” in London, Mr Burghart said: “We’ve opposed this embassy, and it’s obviously going to become a major spy hub for the Chinese state, and we’re concerned that it’s going to compromise the security of the City of London, a major importance of the economy.
“But the Prime Minister’s made his choice, and he seems to have been driven in making that choice by his desire to be greeted well in Beijing when he turns up there in a few weeks’ time. We think it’s a mistake, but the Government’s made its bed and it’s going to have to lie in it.”
On the increase in inflation, he said: “Inflation is going up again. The Government was telling us it was on its way down now and they fixed the problem. Inflation is going up, and it’s because of the Government’s taxes.
“If you look at the underlying figures, one of the things that is pushing inflation up, the food prices and drink prices, and that’s coming out of the hospitality sector.
Mr Burghart told GB News that if America leaves Nato, Putin will ‘win in Ukraine’
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GB NEWS
“That’s pubs and restaurants and cafes that are being hit by Rachel Reeves’ unnecessary business taxes, big hikes in business tax and hikes in wage taxes.
“This is just, it’s really bad for jobs. It’s really bad for our high streets, really bad for our economy. So the government has choices, it’s just making very bad choices at the moment.”
A key ally of Mr Trump has also accused Britain of “letting down” the US over the future of the Chagos Islands.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested Labour is “outsourcing” national security as he launched a scathing attack on the Government.
He said: “President Trump has made it clear that we will not outsource our national security or our hemispheric security to any other countries. Our partner in the UK is letting us down with the base on Diego Garcia, which we’ve shared together for many, many years, and they want to turn it over to Mauritius.”
