Sir Keir Starmer said he “will not yield” in his stance over Greenland as he vowed to stand up to Donald Trump over his threats to annex the Danish territory.
In his most hostile language yet, the prime minister also accused the US President of criticising his government’s plans for the Chagos Islands expressly to pressure him over Greenland.
At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Sir Keir said: “I have made my position clear on our principles and values.
“The first of those is that the future of Greenland is for the people of Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark alone.
“The second is that threats of tariffs to pressurise allies are completely wrong.”
Highlighting that the Danish prime minister is coming to the UK on Thursday, he added: “I will not yield, Britain will not yield on our principles and values about the future of Greenland under threats of tariffs, and that is my clear position.”
President Trump has threatened to hit Britain and other European allies with 10 per cent tariffs from 1 February unless they agree to his purchase of Greenland, and he has refused to rule out using military force to seize the island.
In his strongest words yet against President Trump, Sir Keir said the US President’s criticism over the Chagos Islands deal was done with the “express purpose” of applying pressure over Greenland.
On Tuesday Trump launched a blistering attack on Britain, calling Sir Keir’s plan to cede the islands to Mauritius an act of “great stupidity”.
Writing on his Truth Social platform, the US president said the deal was “another in a very long line of national security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired”.
In his first public comments since the row blindsided the UK government, the PM said: “President Trump deployed words on Chagos yesterday that were different to his previous words of welcome and support when I met him in the White House.
“He deployed those words yesterday for the express purpose of putting pressure on me and Britain in relation to my values and principles on the future of Greenland”.
The PM repeated: “He wants me to yield on my position, and I’m not going to do so.”
Lashing out in an online rant, the US president had written: “Shockingly, our “brilliant” NATO Ally, the United Kingdom, is currently planning to give away the Island of Diego Garcia, the site of a vital U.S. Military Base, to Mauritius, and to do so FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER.”
But the UK pointed out that the deal had already been publicly welcomed by the US.
President Trump also appeared to indicate his support for the deal last year, telling Sir Keir during his visit to the White House in February that he was “inclined to go with your country” and that he had “a feeling it’s going to work out very well”.
The Tories welcomed welcomed Trump’s intervention, with Conservative shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel saying he had “said what we’ve said all along”.
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