The prime minister wants to keep everyone happy. He has been loath to criticize Trump, has warmed up Britain’s post-Brexit partnership with the European Union, avowedly backed Kyiv and thawed ties with China. At a time of geopolitical upheaval, he is attempting to squeeze Britain into an impossibly tight Venn diagram.

Vladimir Putin’s attack dogs have turned on Britain after Sir Keir Starmer vowed to increase annual defence spending to a level last seen after the Cold War. On the eve of his departure to meet Donald Trump in Washington,

If there is a cease-fire without a backstop, it will simply give him the opportunity to wait and to come again,” Keir Starmer warned on the flight to Washington, D.C.

President Trump hosted United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the White House on Thursday for discussions focused on the Russia-Ukraine war.

Starmer hits out at ‘tyrant’ Putin and commits to UK defence spending boost - Announcement comes ahead of Sir Keir’s crunch meeting with US president Donald Trump to end war in Ukraine

Keir Starmer told Nigel Farage to stop “fawning over Putin ” as the pair clashed over the Ukraine crisis. The prime minister was responding to a Commons question from the Reform UK leader about how many British troops may be needed to keep the peace if a deal to end the war is agreed.

The UK is achieving the role Brexiters said it would have - a leading voice in Europe while still outside the EU. But Keir Starmer must back his rhetoric on Russia with action.