Donald Trump took a swipe at his on-again, off-again ally Keir Starmer as the British prime minister’s future looks increasingly uncertain.
Speaking aboard Air Force One on Friday, the 79-year-old president was asked if he believes Starmer–who has refused to help Trump’s war in Iran–will survive growing calls to stand down from members of his own party.
Trump said it’s a “tough thing” for Starmer to be facing before attacking the prime minister’s policies and launching into a tirade about one of the president’s old nemeses: green energy and wind turbines.
“Unless he can straighten out immigration, where he’s weak, and if he doesn’t start drilling and stop with the windmills all over the place that are causing havoc. They’re causing havoc, most expensive form of energy, they kill the birds, they’re unsightly, they’re ruining the landscape,” Trump said.
“If he doesn’t stop with the windmills. He’s got to do energy, he’s got to open up the North Sea, you know. He’s got one of the greatest oil finds anywhere in the world, and he’s not using it.”
Trump has long had a one-sided feud with “windmills,” accusing them of being “ugly,” as well as making bizarre claims that they kill birds and even whales.
Trump has also complained that offshore turbines off the coast of Scotland are ruining the view from his golf resort near Aberdeen.
“You see these windmills all over the place, ruining your beautiful fields and valleys and killing your birds, and if they’re stuck in the ocean, ruining your oceans,” Trump said during his four-day trip to Scotland last July.
Trump has repeatedly suggested that Starmer and the U.K. should drill for oil in the North Sea instead of investing in green energy.
When asked directly whether Starmer should quit amid the growing backlash to the Labour Party’s disastrous local council election results on May 9, Trump replied: “I won’t say anything.
“I think he’s a nice man, actually. But I mean, I didn’t like what he said, ‘We’re going to send ships as soon as you’re finished with the war,’” Trump said, in reference to Starmer’s refusal to drag the U.K. into the war in Iran and the efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Nearly 100 Labour MPs have publicly called for Starmer to resign after the party lost more than 1,400 local council seats in last week’s elections.
Starmer faces a potential leadership challenge from Wes Streeting, who resigned as health secretary as part of a plot to topple Starmer, and Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.
